Exhaust smell stinks! what could it be?

dayday42

dayday42

Member
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So I let my wife drive the si back home from the inlaws the other day and i followed her in her optima and i noticed a funky smell coming from the exhaust pipe. i have no clue why it smells like it does but it makes me wonder if its normal or if it could be from the 93 octane fuel that can only go in the fuel system or if its the fuel upgrades that were already installed in the car before i bought it. i believe it has some kind of upgraded fuel rail and injectors. i still yet to this day don't know what all has been modded on the vehicle. it sucks gas like a champ though i average close to 25 dollars a week in gas. if anyone has an idea of what is causing this smell or if its just normal id appreciate some feedback.

thanks
 
You might have a catless downpipe on the car, have you looked under the car to see if its stock?
 
If you say the car has mods, I'd wager you have a catless downpipe. Take some pictures of your engine bay, and take some pictures under the car. The exhaust pipe from the engine back to the back of the car would be important. That pipe from the firewall area behind the motor would show us.

It also makes me wonder if the car was tuned with flashpro and then removed when the car was sold to you. Did you buy it from a private seller or a dealer?
 
webby said:
If you say the car has mods, I'd wager you have a catless downpipe. Take some pictures of your engine bay, and take some pictures under the car. The exhaust pipe from the engine back to the back of the car would be important. That pipe from the firewall area behind the motor would show us.

It also makes me wonder if the car was tuned with flashpro and then removed when the car was sold to you. Did you buy it from a private seller or a dealer?
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their is a hondata sticker under the hood so I'm assuming it had the flashpro. I bought from dealer.
 
Do you have the flashpro unit now? What I'm saying is, I wouldn't be surprised if the person who had the car sold off the flashpro unit when he traded the car to the dealer. Did you get the flashpro unit when you got the car? It looks like this - plugs into the obd2 port under the dash down by the pedals.



dyZpWyA.jpg


If the person did that, they have to revert the tune on the car to stock. If I had to guess, I wouldn't be surprised if that is what happened, and you're running a modified car on the stock ecu tune. You really should get a flashpro unit so you could be tuned properly if you really do have a downpipe and other mods. Please take pics of the car & post them.
 
dayday42 said:
their is a hondata sticker under the hood so I'm assuming it had the flashpro. I bought from dealer.
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Smells like you're catless and have a significantly modified car. Check with the selling dealer and see if a Flashpro was turned in with the car. If not, see if you can get the name and contact of the previous owner(s) to see if you can locate the Flashpro used to tune the car. Otherwise you're going to have to spend $700 plus to get the car running better with the current mods. If the car was warrantied as being Honda Certified, the other option is to enforce the warranty to get the car returned to stock so it can pass emissions in a testing state. This option will cost the dealer several thousand dollars in parts and labor but may be the only way to get the car running right.
WRT to being a "gashog", what's your mpg average? $25/week means nothing, we can burn $25 a day when travelling - at 32+ mpg average.
 
tacthecat said:
Smells like you're catless and have a significantly modified car. Check with the selling dealer and see if a Flashpro was turned in with the car. If not, see if you can get the name and contact of the previous owner(s) to see if you can locate the Flashpro used to tune the car. Otherwise you're going to have to spend $700 plus to get the car running better with the current mods. If the car was warrantied as being Honda Certified, the other option is to enforce the warranty to get the car returned to stock so it can pass emissions in a testing state. This option will cost the dealer several thousand dollars in parts and labor but may be the only way to get the car running right.
WRT to being a "gashog", what's your mpg average? $25/week means nothing, we can burn $25 a day when travelling - at 32+ mpg average.
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ill have to check to see if the flashpro is in their. if I'm correct I get around 28mpg
 
28mpg is far from gas guzzling. You're missing a ton of power out of the car if the flashpro unit isn't in the car though (and it has a downpipe/other mods).
 
webby said:
28mpg is far from gas guzzling. You're missing a ton of power out of the car if the flashpro unit isn't in the car though (and it has a downpipe/other mods).
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I looked above the pedals and unless the flashpro thing hangs down or something I don't have it. and I'm sure the dealer doesn't have it either or they would have gave it to me or kept it and one of the employees might have took it
 
Maybe @VitViper can be of some help to you. He can tune you remotely through datalogging and get the car running a lot better.

First thing is pics of the engine bay and under the car. A pic of the exhaust pipe coming down from the engine is needed. He's going to want to know your mods to get you started with a basemap. If you are running a downpipe, you really need to get tuned asap

http://9thcivic.com/forum/forums/flashprotuning-and-vittuned.134/
 
I tried to upload some pics but says file too large. don't know how to make smaller. thanks for all your help and suggestions webby
 
dayday42 said:
I looked above the pedals and unless the flashpro thing hangs down or something I don't have it. and I'm sure the dealer doesn't have it either or they would have gave it to me or kept it and one of the employees might have took it
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Usually the Flashpro wouldn't be connected unless you were tuning. As Webby said 28 mpg is reasonable - 1 mpg less than EPA combined.
Suggest checking with dealer re: the box or the prior owner. The smell isn't going to go away if the cat is gone but Vit can get you tuned up after you locate, or buy, the Flashpro.
Are you in a state that requires emission checks.
What about warranty that dealer gave you on the car? If he Honda Certified it you might be able to get him to pay for the Flashpro in lieu of returning the car to stock.
 
tacthecat said:
Usually the Flashpro wouldn't be connected unless you were tuning. As Webby said 28 mpg is reasonable - 1 mpg less than EPA combined.
Suggest checking with dealer re: the box or the prior owner. The smell isn't going to go away if the cat is gone but Vit can get you tuned up after you locate, or buy, the Flashpro.
Are you in a state that requires emission checks.
What about warranty that dealer gave you on the car? If he Honda Certified it you might be able to get him to pay for the Flashpro in lieu of returning the car to stock.
Click to expand...

I live in Virginia and I called the dealership I got it from earlier and they had to get in contact with the original owner of the car. apparently the guy said he sent everything with the car that he had which I think is bull but whatever. guess I will have to buy my own flashpro. and I got the best warranty the dealership had to offer me that would extend to 100k. car only has 19k on it.
 
dayday42 said:
I live in Virginia and I called the dealership I got it from earlier and they had to get in contact with the original owner of the car. apparently the guy said he sent everything with the car that he had which I think is bull but whatever. guess I will have to buy my own flashpro. and I got the best warranty the dealership had to offer me that would extend to 100k. car only has 19k on it.
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Google search says if you live in Counties of Arlington, Fairfax, Loudoun, Prince William, or Stafford. Cities of Alexandria, Fairfax, Falls Church, Manassas or Manassas Park you have to pass an emissions test; if not then you're legal from an emissions standpoint but you'll be restricted as to where you can move to/live. If you got a Honda Certified Warranty I think the dealer or Honda is on the hook for your car to pass in all 50 states. Otherwise read your warranty material. Good luck.
 
dayday42 said:
I tried to upload some pics but says file too large. don't know how to make smaller. thanks for all your help and suggestions webby
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hop over to imgur.com and upload them. Then just paste the URL in the reply box here so we can go look at them.

as for emissions testing, well that's another ball of wax. I don't know how they'd even handle that if you have a catless exhaust. The pics will help determine how that would go
 
tacthecat said:
Google search says if you live in Counties of Arlington, Fairfax, Loudoun, Prince William, or Stafford. Cities of Alexandria, Fairfax, Falls Church, Manassas or Manassas Park you have to pass an emissions test; if not then you're legal from an emissions standpoint but you'll be restricted as to where you can move to/live. If you got a Honda Certified Warranty I think the dealer or Honda is on the hook for your car to pass in all 50 states. Otherwise read your warranty material. Good luck.
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Thank you sir for this information. very helpful
 
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