GOLFMK8
GOLFMK7
GOLFMK6
GOLFMKV

Sudden Perfume Smell

dosjockey

Go Kart Champion
Location
South
This may sound crazy, I don't know... I can't imagine what the hell caused this.

The car has about 430 miles on it, and I purchased it new. I've had it since the 18th of last month, and it's smelled like nothing but a new car, with all the wonderful polymer off-gassing we all love. That's it. No other smells, and it's not been detailed. I washed it one time with fluid that I always use (and smells nothing like this) about a week ago. Aside from that, it hasn't been touched.

I was sitting in a bank parking lot with the air conditioner on, and all of a sudden this fruity perfume smell (perhaps like a really powerful vape cloud) jumped out of the vents and hit my sinuses like a baseball bat. Nobody was anywhere near me, there were no odors outside, nor the suspicion of any odors. Only one other person has been in this car, and I was there at the time. They knew better to bring in any perfume, because I won't let someone in a car if I can smell them.

So, a smell was generated and permeated this vehicle from the damned astral plane, or something. I can't imagine what he heck happened, but I went to Best Buy after that, and it was still happening. You can smell it with the car off from ten feet away if the windows are open. So, I called someone to follow me to the VW dealership, where they were unable to determine the cause of the odor immediately. So, I gave them the key and said I didn't want to see that thing until it had no further odor.

They won't be able to touch it until Monday.

I looked all over the place for anything it could have sucked up, but found nothing. I could smell it powerfully from the intake under the hood, but nothing could have found it's way past that grill over it. If it's coming from the engine, I can't tell, because I still can't get it out of my nose.

Please tell me this isn't normal. There isn't some damned air freshener in that climate control system nobody's mentioned, is there? Something that might have been stuck and just suddenly started working?

They seem to believe the other dealership detailed it with something smelly, but they can't possibly be correct. I'd have smelled it by now; unless it was pooled somewhere for almost a month and suddenly spilled out.

I'm thoroughly confused, here.
 

helenhighwater

New member
Location
Oregon
I have a new(ish) 2019 SE. When I run the windshield washers, I get a strong smell from the fluid, but not exactly perfume. It is the original fluid that came with the car. I have never smelled that strong scent from the washer fluid in any other car I have owned. Could that be it?
 

torga

Autocross Champion
Location
Seattle
Car(s)
'11 GTI
Could it be you have some sort of cooling system dud? Burnt/hot coolant smells sweet, fragrant, and somewhat fruity.
 

Golfs everyday

Autocross Newbie
Location
USA
Burnt coolant smells awful, so I'm guessing more what the dealer said about some detailing chemical or drink that maybe the porter spilled into your defrost vents accidentally while prepping your car.
 

Desslok

Autocross Champion
Location
PA
Car(s)
2019 Rabbit
Maybe someone sprayed some of this in your car:
 

Attachments

  • stripper.jpg
    stripper.jpg
    33 KB · Views: 161

dosjockey

Go Kart Champion
Location
South
Burnt coolant smells awful, so I'm guessing more what the dealer said about some detailing chemical or drink that maybe the porter spilled into your defrost vents accidentally while prepping your car.

Yeah, but it's been almost a month. Where was it hiding until now?
 

dosjockey

Go Kart Champion
Location
South
Could it be you have some sort of cooling system dud? Burnt/hot coolant smells sweet, fragrant, and somewhat fruity.

Doesn't smell like any coolant with which I'm familiar (Rover owner... I smell a lot of coolant... LOL), but that doesn't mean there isn't some newfangled blend in this car. Everything else was designed with the "engineer it until it doesn't work properly" philosophy...
 
Last edited:

dosjockey

Go Kart Champion
Location
South
I have a new(ish) 2019 SE. When I run the windshield washers, I get a strong smell from the fluid, but not exactly perfume. It is the original fluid that came with the car. I have never smelled that strong scent from the washer fluid in any other car I have owned. Could that be it?

No, it's not that. This smells like someone's vape pen got sucked into the cabin air intake, a cheap air filter... Something like that.

The most frustrating part of it all is the fact that today, my fancy Mann carbon filter showed up, and I was looking forward to installing it to keep the interior smelling right, stopping pollen and mold spores, and so on.

Never even got a chance to install it.

This smelled so damned strong that I literally called someone to pick me up and take me home after dropping it at the dealership. When I dropped it off, they went through the whole thing about detailing chemicals, but how could it smell like a new car for a month, and then in a split second start spraying ghetto all over the place? That doesn't make sense. Where was it hiding for nearly a month? There was ZERO odor in this car beyond "new car smell".

In a blink, it went from "new car" to ghetto 1993 Ford Taurus. If nobody was available to take me home, I'd have rung up a cab, left it in the Best Buy parking lot, and called a tow company.

If I catch one single particle of that nonsense in that thing when the call me up... I won't accept it back. I refuse to drive that ghetto-smelling bullshit.

Unfortunately, that may be the case, because if they don't park it somewhere where they can leave the windows open, that smell isn't going away with the cloth interior, and I won't take it if I can even detect the most minute trace.
 

sterkrazzy

Autocross Champion
Location
United States
Car(s)
Turbo. Blue.
Did anyone else smell it? Maybe it's a tumor.
 
Top