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Sudden Perfume Smell

The Butcher

Autocross Champion
Location
United States
Check for hookers in the trunk
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Cliff p.

Drag Racing Champion
Location
El Paso, TX
Car(s)
'17 Golf R DSG
Let's just all hope that the smell doesn't turn from sweet to sour; rotting fruit is what I'm thinking at this point. Maybe something got into the ductwork and didn't quite make it to the cabin filter, and has been ripening while lodged.
 

dosjockey

Go Kart Champion
Location
South
I'm chasing a smell in my car as well, only mine is a bad smell. OP you're lucky you don't have that problem. I left a flavored coffee in the cupholder while at topgolf one day and the smell has not gone away. I've parked the car in the garage with the windows down for weeks on end since I don't drive it in the winter, I've closed up the car and poured 5 pounds of baking soda into cookie sheets and placed them all over the car for days on end, nothing gets rid of it. It's stuck in the leather and cushions and floormats and everything. Didn't even spill it. My next step is to grab a bottle of Ozium and tie the nozzle down, throw it in the car, and run like hell. If that doesn't work, I'll rent an ozone generator for a day or two. I suggest you ask them to do the same.

I've tackled smells like this before. It's not coming out easily. Unfortunately, neither is yours. Be careful with ozone... You can't run it for long, because it will eat the polymers and make even worse smells, or damage things visibly. They will absolutely accelerate aging; especially in relation to those open cell foam seals used so often in climate control ducts, as well as anything prone to U/V damage.

As for the smell, to me, it's horrid. Nobody's going to do anything now. Spoke with the dealership again, quite politely and amusingly, and it was a bunch of muddled nonsense. I'm done dealing with liars. I don't know what they think they're getting out of being difficult over something so stupid, but this goes legal now.

VW and that dealership caused this to go so far, not me. I was perfectly willing to work with them to find the solution, and now it's just another pile of lies.
 

dosjockey

Go Kart Champion
Location
South
Let's just all hope that the smell doesn't turn from sweet to sour; rotting fruit is what I'm thinking at this point. Maybe something got into the ductwork and didn't quite make it to the cabin filter, and has been ripening while lodged.

We'll never know, at this point. Apparently, with their Superman X-Ray vision and omniscient understanding of all creation, they verified that no such fruit is present, and that it couldn't possibly be anything related to the vehicle itself... Amazing they can manage that without even removing the cabin air filter, don't you think?

No, I'm finished playing nice. Done. I'll bring in help to move these gears along. It's going to sit out there collecting dust, and I hope my other car doesn't fail in the process; because it really needs to be resting and receiving maintenance up north right now.

I was totally cool with the process until the lies started. That's where I draw the line.
 

The Butcher

Autocross Champion
Location
United States
We'll never know, at this point. Apparently, with their Superman X-Ray vision and omniscient understanding of all creation, they verified that no such fruit is present, and that it couldn't possibly be anything related to the vehicle itself... Amazing they can manage that without even removing the cabin air filter, don't you think?

No, I'm finished playing nice. Done. I'll bring in help to move these gears along. It's going to sit out there collecting dust, and I hope my other car doesn't fail in the process; because it really needs to be resting and receiving maintenance up north right now.

I was totally cool with the process until the lies started. That's where I draw the line.
Have you looked at your cabin air filter? If the odor comes from there, easy fix.
 

dosjockey

Go Kart Champion
Location
South
Have you looked at your cabin air filter? If the odor comes from there, easy fix.

If I so much as touch that car, I lose all standing. I really, really want to investigate it myself, but I can't do it now.

I'd just bought a fancy carbon filter to install before spring, but never had a chance to use it.
 

mopar22

Autocross Newbie
Location
Michigan
Car(s)
16 GTI
At this point in time you already lost all standing. It's all he said she said at this point and if they don't smell anything anymore or can even find anything then you're up sheet creek without a paddle
 

dosjockey

Go Kart Champion
Location
South
At this point in time you already lost all standing. It's all he said she said at this point and if they don't smell anything anymore or can even find anything then you're up sheet creek without a paddle

I'm prepared to win any contest they start, but first I'm going to poke around town and see if there's anything I'm interested in trading for, just for simplicity.

Around here, the average buyer in that price range is going to hang it full of air fresheners, anyway.

The lies sealed the deal on my course of action.
 

The Butcher

Autocross Champion
Location
United States
If I so much as touch that car, I lose all standing. I really, really want to investigate it myself, but I can't do it now.

I'd just bought a fancy carbon filter to install before spring, but never had a chance to use it.
If you checked the cabin air filter, there's no way for anyone to know.

Do you only have 1 VW stealership by you? Granted I live in the highly populated Chicago area, I believe I have 5-6 within 25 miles. Might be worth trying another dealership.
 

dosjockey

Go Kart Champion
Location
South
If you checked the cabin air filter, there's no way for anyone to know.

Do you only have 1 VW stealership by you? Granted I live in the highly populated Chicago area, I believe I have 5-6 within 25 miles. Might be worth trying another dealership.

I've only got one within my range. The others are associated with this one.
 

Desslok

Autocross Champion
Location
PA
Car(s)
2019 Rabbit
All we have here is your version. Not implying there’s no issue but you seem like an extremely difficult customer to deal with.

That's what it looks like to me, but I don't doubt the dealership is lying. If this guy has full-on bloodhound skills, he should be able to locate the source easily.
 

JC_451

Autocross Champion
Location
NJ, one of the nice parts.
Car(s)
2017 GTI Sport
I can't even imagine where this is going long term.

What is the dealer supposed to do here. If they've investigated and can't find the source what responsibility do they bear? Since the smell appeared after the OP had taken possession of it...

How is the dealer responsible for the smell?

I'm not following that part.
 

Winter

New member
Location
Mid-Atlantic
Car(s)
2017 Golf TSI
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.
Does it smell faintly similar to maple syrup or something sickly sweet?
 
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