Bad Smell 2011 edge

[Ryson204]

I have a 2011 Edge with a bad Smell coming from engine bay. It smells the most around the front driver side wheel well. This smell comes in through the vents if the heat is on during traffic stops. Kind of like a natural gas/propane/rotten egg smell. I've read it could be the Cats but the smell isn't emitting from the back tailpipe. It also happens randomly. Started 2 weeks ago and would happen a couple times during an hour commute, now I am getting the smell even at idle letting the vehicle warmup.

 

When it started I was at a red light, heard a faint sound come from the engine then got a CEL P0455 large evap leak. Read it's probably a loose cap/ez fuel flap jam cleaned it out with compressed air, reset code and nothing has popped back up since.

 

I've checked the purge valve, no vacuum when no power is connected. I've checked the PTU with no leaks detected. Even had a camera take pictures of the top of the unit to spot the puking vent, again nothing. I've tried a higher octane fuel. I've put in a bottle of fuel treatment, no luck. I've got a scanner have ran tests on Torque with no problems that I can see.

 

Just seeing if anyone has some advice/experience with this. I'd just like to see if I can get a better idea of what I can check for. Dealer wants 140$ just to look at it ??

 

I'll see if a local garage has a smoke test, if the evap leak and this smell are in common.

[WWWPerfA_ZN0W]

Cabin filter. Mildew on evaporator. Clogged evaporator drain vent. These are the most common reasons for such smells. So take out the cabin filter. Run Lysol through the system with heat on high for 30 minutes. Check again. Disconnect the evaporator drain line at the joint behind the carpet at the driver side footwell. Blow some compressed air through it. Once confirmed clear, reconnect the joint. Put in a new cabin filter and retest.

[enigma-2]

If is an AWD it could be the PTU leaking either gear lube or trans fluid (hitting hot exhaust).

[chefduane]

...and trust me brother, gear lube STINKS!

[Ryson204]

Cabin air filter is new. I had a friend climb underneath the car and take photos all around the PTU with no signs of leaks. I thought maybe it was the battery as that is the only thing i replaced, so i replaced with another one and still same smell. I took it to the shop and was told it could be my Cats, When i purchased the vehicle i took it to the highway, wanting to see what it could do, got up to 5-6k rpm and had a flashing check engine light and lost power. So basically it started misfiring, did it again when trying to pass a vehicle. I took it back to the dealership they said 6th cyl was misfiring so he changed 6 cyl with the 3rd cyl plug and said it was fixed. I took it out again and misfired again. Took it back asked why he swapped a bad one with a good one and he said cause he wanted to see if it was the plug or a coil issue.

 

Now with a bunch of misfires and the fact the shop to me it could be the cats i have reason to believe it is. I was told Ford wouldnt replace the cats under warranty (80,000mile) unless there is a CEL code. Past 2 days ive been running premium gas, it has significantly reduced the smell, now I put in midgrade and its back to bad smell again.

 

Basically my question is should i keep using cheap fuel to clog the cat even more and try to trip a CEL code to get warranty replacement?

Should i remove the cats and straight pipe it? Other than emission checks, is there anything else id have to worry about running catless?

 

Seems to be more on the driver side around the wheel well, passenger side doesnt put off much of a smell at all.

 

Thanks for the replies guys!

[enigma-2]

My understanding that premium and mid-grade are the exact same gas except the premium has more anti-knock.

 

My guess is, the failure of one cylinder to fire properly may be sending too much raw fuel into the cats.

 

I would lean towards getting the car running per spec. Unless the cats are actually destroyed (they usually fail by clogging & your not getting any codes), a properly running engine should fix everything.

 

I would imagine removing the car's catolitic's would throw the engine management computer into a tizzy.

Edited December 18, 2016 by enigma-2

[WWWPerfA_ZN0W]

Did you purchase from a Ford dealership? Do you have a Lincoln dealership nearby? That's one diagnostic option.

 

I would agree with raw fuel in the cats being a possible problem here. You may need to replace all injectors along with spark plugs to fix this. Hopefully the coils are OK.

[Ryson204]

purchased from a used car dealership. They said they ended up replacing all spark plugs after my second time in from a misfiring engine. They told me if its the cats there could be raw fuel in the cats still and would take sometime to clear them out. I ran the highway for a couple hours the other day on premium fuel, then did city driving for another 2 hours and wasnt getting any smell whatsoever, or very very mild i couldnt tell as ive been smelling it so much sometimes i think my brain is still smelling it =P

 

again took it on the highway to take the kiddo to see some xmas lights about a 30minute highway drive, we got there driving through the light show at 10km/h didnt notice any smell and the heat was on high the whole time.

 

as far as running right I dont notice any performance issues but i havent driven any other edge so I cant compare, no codes are showing. I also purchased torque app and have been looking at 02 sensor readings, although im not to sure exactly what im looking for from some research it all seems normal.

 

is there any graph diags i can run to screen shot to help yall see how its running?

[WWWPerfA_ZN0W]

I assume you have Torque Pro, so you have datalogging capabilities. But if you want to screenshot, this is the bare minimum to look at:

 

SPEED

RPM

O2 sensor Bank 1 Sensor 1

O2 sensor Bank 1 Sensor 2

O2 sensor Bank 2 Sensor 1

O2 sensor Bank 2 Sensor 2

Long Term Fuel Trim Bank 1

Long Term Fuel Trim Bank 2

Short Term Fuel Trim Bank 1

Short Term Fuel Trim Bank 2

one at idle after startup, one at idle after engine is warmed up (190F/88C + degrees), and one at speed/cruising after engine warmed up.

 

This should tell us, in general, if there is a fuel/ignition issue we need to look at. We are getting more users reporting in with "bad fuel" issues, so that may also be in play.

 

I would normally suggest using Forscan Lite, as it is a better/more powerful tool than Torque Pro, but with a less friendly user interface. Hopefully won't need it.

Edited December 19, 2016 by WWWPerfA_ZN0W

[Ryson204]

alright. i have forscan but for PC. I needed it for the BMS reset.

Ill try the graphing tonight on the way to work and post in the AM.

 

Thanks again man

[Ryson204]

Just an update

 

Because of the EVAP CEL and from some of the problems I have read online I decided this morning to swap out the canister purge valve in a final attempt to fix the situation. Sure enough that's what it was (knock on wood) drove it around for a good 3 hours and haven't had the smell yet. When I go to work tonight ill know for sure after a cold start.

When I checked the valve it wasn't leaking i wasn't getting any suction whatsoever so im guessing maybe it was stuck closed? probably over saturating the charcoal canister or expelling from somewhere else? i dunno =P

 

Thanks for the help, if no other updates then this was what was causing it.

Great site. Great community

[WWWPerfA_ZN0W]

Just to confirm, this is the purge valve underneath the Edge, next to the canister itself? Good find, hope it is the longterm fix!

[Ryson204]

Its the valve attached to the firewall, next to the throttle body. I thought it was called a purge valve I could be wrong.

 

Somewhat still back at square one though

 

I had the smell return on my way to work while at the coffee shop drive thru. Its at least 80% better, not nearly as pungent. I'm not to sure if its maybe from driving it the way it was for couple weeks, perhaps it needs sometime to vent out. I don't know much about it. I also filled with 87 octane instead of 91 so that might be part of the problem.

 

If you can still check out the data graph for me that'd be awesome, just to see if maybe its not running at 100%. My girlfriend has the vehicle today so I cant run the scan right now but will be able to later tonight on my way to work. Ill post the shots tomorrow morning of the sensor readings

[WWWPerfA_ZN0W]

The EVAP purge valve, got it Will look at the graphs when posted.

[Ryson204]

Well instead of screenshots i decided to record a video of the graphing. Not sure why the graph gets all screwed up through out the video, if that was the software i used or youtube compression. I switch between graph and table so hopefully you can get a better view of whats happening. I was using torque but thought forscan would be better.

 

Hopefully i have the right readings there is a ton to choose from i wasnt to sure exactly what was what =P

 

It wasnt a full cold start if needed i can do that later when its cooled. I started it increased rpm then drove it for 10+min. Some highway driving as well took it up to 140km or so.

 

I used Forscan mobile and have a <!> under log which reads

[06:25:52.542] DTCs in IPC: U0253:00-28, U0424:00-28

 

Also the 02S22.SFTF on both the PC and mobile app constantly read 99.22%

 

 

Hope something here helps you. If you need anymore info let me know

[Ryson204]

I'm guessing everything looks normal?

 

Since there are tons of posts about the ptu I'm leading towards that being the smell. I had a technician look under the vehicle for leaks and had a friend check it out plus I have looked and can't seem to find anything.

 

Guess I'll get a mityvac and pump out the oil and pump in some new stuff as a last attempt.

 

Should of went with fwd ??

[WWWPerfA_ZN0W]

This was taken under 87 gas, right? Was engine warmed up at the time? I would like to see similar graphing, along with engine temperature, for 93 gas. Also set all O2 sensor readings to V, not mA, for uniformity. It seems like Bank 1 has issues being a little rich at idle, which I would attribute to possibly a mildly leaky injector (s) or spark plug gaps getting too large. 93 may be helping with those issues. How many km on your Edge? Might be ripe for a plug/PCV valve job.

 

The smell is strongest at the driverside wheel well, you said, is why I am not suspecting PTU, especially without visible leaks. No harm in fluid exchange however. Check the PTU-driveshaft seal carefully, as there can be a leak from that area also sometimes.

[macbwt]

For my part I viewed the video as as far as your operation and the PID information I see nothing out of the ordinary when compared to my experiences with the readings. Mine is pretty similar to yours.

 

Smells: If you have AWD you might want to check the PTU and Power steering system for leaks on the exhaust.

[mmiller]

New Ford owner - purchased 2012 Edge SEL AWD in May - currently 50,000 miles. Wife has noticed (and I confirmed) a slight methyl mercaptan odor in the passenger compartment that came & went periodically. Checked for engine leaks - none. Talked with local Ford technicians & they had never heard of this problem.

Saturday, wife complained of unusual noise coming from the drive assembly. Took to our mechanic who took for test drive. He came back with smoke pouring out from under vehicle. When he placed it on the lift, he saw that the transfer case had broken off from the engine/transmission and that fluid had leaked onto the exhaust. He is recommending that transmission get replaced as well as the transfer case.

Towed to local Ford garage & hoping that it is covered under Ford's 60,000 mile drivetrain warranty.

Mechanic said the mercaptan smell came from transmission fluid dripping on exhaust.

[macbwt]

And the dealer did not notice it. Yeah right.

[Ryson204]

Sorry been crazy around the holidays. Thanks for the replies. I'll definitely need to check out the ptu. No heated garage I can use right now and it's been way to cold to do it outside. I was thinking maybe it could be some type of leaking in the evap system. I'll try to replace oil in the ptu if nothing improves get it smoked for leaks. As it comes from driver side wheel well possibly something with the canister. *shrugs

[WWWPerfA_ZN0W]

The seal around the torque converter housing has also been known to leak, so that is another possibility.

[Ryson204]

Well I'm changing the fluid tomorrow as it should be better weather. Got some gear oil decided to open it and see what it smells like, Sure enough.....

Same smell I'm getting in the vehicle. I'm not very mechanically inclined but like doing things myself. Not sure where I'm going to be looking for leaks but hoping it is the vent. My luck it won't be. I'll try to check everywhere I can though or else I'll have to take it in to dealership. I'll still replace the oil praying it fixes it =P

[Ryson204]

Well I worked on the edge yesterday. What a nightmare. 8 hours later for something that I now know would only take 1 hour.

 

Anyways got the full plug off, stuck the extractor hose in started pumping... nothing. Tried again, again nothing. Decided to just pump oil in. Manual calls for 12oz I put in 15-18oz and still want coming out the fill hole. The unit was bone dry. Basically was over heating and the fumes were coming out and into the interior. Couldn't see any leaks anywhere at all. The fill plug had no metal shavings on it either.

 

I'll have to monitor it the next couple days. 50km drive home from where I worked on it and no smell. I don't think anyways we were sitting in a garage with the smell for so long I couldn't tell anymore ??

[enigma-2]

Check for a leaking seal. Dealer found a leaking seal during oil change, although mine was covered under extended warranty, think they said the total cost was around $300.