Aircon vents seem to smell of engine fumes

[Reebs]

I've noticed over the last couple of days that there is a distinct wiff of engine fumes coming from the air vents of my 2002 Conn SE 2.5 V6 saloon.

It doesn't appear to matter how fast or slow I drive and the fumes are by no means strong or belching out, but I can definately smell something that makes me want to cough on a long journey.

The Engine runs perfectly & air con is ice cold. The mileage is now at 90K, and the car had it's full service including cam belt renewal a couple of months ago at 80K. The engine temperature gauge is fine too so no over heating.

Anyone got any clues, or things I can check before I have to present the vehicle to my local Rover dealer for my bank account to get another fleecing.

[Mike]

It's most likely the breather pipes connector on top of your engine. Easy to check - remove the plastic acoustic engine cover (couple of nuts). Underneath you will see three thin black breather pipes connected by a plastic 'T' piece. The T piece is known to fracture and allow fumes into the cabin. Check it and if knackered replace asap.

hth

[stocktake]

It's most likely the breather pipes connector on top of your engine. Easy to check - remove the plastic acoustic engine cover (couple of nuts). Underneath you will see three thin black breather pipes connected by a plastic 'T' piece. The T piece is known to fracture and allow fumes into the cabin. Check it and if knackered replace asap.

hth

Just reminded me, temp repaired mine last month with heater hose pushed over the hard plastic pipes and then a standard "T" piece to join it all together. does andbody have the part numbers for the three breather pipes and "T" piece?

sorry for mini hi jack

[Mike]

LLH102660 - Breather Pipe KV6

[Reebs]

The T piece is known to fracture and allow fumes into the cabin. Check it and if knackered replace asap.

hth

Mike,

spot on diagnoses, the T piece is indeed cracked. Thanks for the quick response, I'll replace the broken part ASAP.

[Lates]

Woohoo spot on mr mike ;) Fitted two this weekend during our missions. Mike tip of the day ............get an early night next saturday :D

[Mike]

Mike tip of the day ............get an early night next saturday :D

No sorry mate, you'll just have to explain that one. When I visit, as a good customer I just sit around drinking tea and chatting.........don't I? :confused:

[Lates]

Errr ..... on this occasion I will agree with anything you say :D

[Mike]

Errr ..... on this occasion I will agree with anything you say :D

now that is a surprise :rofl:

[Lates]

now that is a surprise :rofl:

But I will draw the line at being Mikes b!tch for the duration :rofl:

[Mike]

But I will draw the line at being Mikes b!tch for the duration :rofl:

no need to worry their mate. I'll be keeping my distance ;)

[Lates]

I am looking forward to the weekend now :D , complete with this new look belt but I dont know why its got a snooker ball on it ?

[Mike]

I am looking forward to the weekend now :D , complete with this new look belt but I dont know why its got a snooker ball on it ?

:shrug: :shrug: :shrug: :sissy:

:rofl:

[Reebs]

When you two have quite finished !!!!!

In a futile attempt to bring this thread back on track, I thought you'd like to see how I got on.

This is what I found on removing the engine cover

http://www.the75andztclub.co.uk/forum/imagehosting/9584701f8e717a6d.jpg

And as you can see the T Piece had broken completely at the junction to the top hose

http://www.the75andztclub.co.uk/forum/imagehosting/9584701f8e7e2ca1.jpg

So I bought Part No: LLH102660
"Hose-camshaft cover to throttle body breather - 12mm - cam cover to
throttle"

which cost £13.70 inc VAT from my local Rover dealer (They said the T-Peice on it's own was not available)

http://www.the75andztclub.co.uk/forum/imagehosting/9584701f8e8b2f26.jpg

And once fitted you can see the improvement

http://www.the75andztclub.co.uk/forum/imagehosting/9584701f90c74e16.jpg

So there you have it.

I've finished now, so please feel free to resume the love in....

[Mike]

When you two have quite finished !!!!!

In a futile attempt to bring this thread back on track, I thought you'd like to see how I got on.

This is what I found on removing the engine cover

http://www.the75andztclub.co.uk/forum/imagehosting/9584701f8e717a6d.jpg

And as you can see the T Piece had broken completely at the junction to the top hose

http://www.the75andztclub.co.uk/forum/imagehosting/9584701f8e7e2ca1.jpg

So I bought Part No: LLH102660
"Hose-camshaft cover to throttle body breather - 12mm - cam cover to
throttle"

which cost £13.70 inc VAT from my local Rover dealer (They said the T-Peice on it's own was not available)

http://www.the75andztclub.co.uk/forum/imagehosting/9584701f8e8b2f26.jpg

And once fitted you can see the improvement

http://www.the75andztclub.co.uk/forum/imagehosting/9584701f90c74e16.jpg

So there you have it.

I've finished now, so please feel free to resume the love in....

Hi Reebs,

Yup futile it is ;) A big well done and many thanks for the great pics - I'll turn into a how to that will help other members.

Regards

Mike

[Lates]

Failed to see how to remove the pipe as not all people are versed in the quick release sytem ;)

The materials used leave a little to be desired and by the time the acoustic cover is refitted they will be back under slight tension again.

[Mike]

Failed to see how to remove the pipe as not all people are versed in the quick release sytem ;)

The materials used leave a little to be desired and by the time the acoustic cover is refitted they will be back under slight tension again.

You write it out and send it to me mate and I'll put the how to together ;)

[Mike]

ps I guess a pre-project drive car is a bonus in many tech respects as well as finish. The t piece assembly on R40 is nearly 7 years old and still going strong............

[Lates]

Press me pull me type of fittings I believe ;)

R40 running its original pipe, maybe the blanket to keep him wrapped up over night prevent "brittleness" during cold spells works :pillow:

[Mike]

Press me pull me type of fittings I believe ;)

R40 running its original pipe, maybe the blanket to keep him wrapped up over night prevent "brittleness" during cold spells works :pillow:

Exactly............the only way to treat a Lady ;)

[amableson]

I knew there was a very good reason to be a member of this forum.

When my car came back from the garage after the new gearchange linkage was fitted there was an oily smell in the car and i put it down to natural garage smells etc, you know what i mean mechanics boots etc.Having read this thread i wondered whether my breather pipe was broken so last night when i got home after cutting the grass i discovered my broken breather pipe just the same as in the pictures earlier so thanks lads, another success to the forum.One ordered this morning.:grouphug: :bowdown:

[Fraser Mitchell]

Well now........

I had wondered as to what was under this cover. So now I'll check mine to see what's what; there seem to be only a couple of screws holding it on. I got some funny smells when I was in Italy, and it was VERY hot, (unlike the Blighty Summer this year !!).

Question is - is this cover really necessary !!

[Simon]

Question is - is this cover really necessary !!

It's there as an acoustic cover and is really designed to minimize engine noises and help keep the car nice and quiet when your just pootling around or cruising down the motorways :)

[Fraser Mitchell]

Well now..... again !

Having a small 'window of opportunity' this evening after obeying the various diktats of 'Er indoors, I took the engine cover off. There was the T-piece with the three pipes, and still reasonably white in colour, not yellow. The pipe from the rear bank is a bit loose on the T-piece but everything is still OK and there are no fractures. I may put on a small hose clip on the loose pipe from my collection of stainless steel clips, (purchased when I had a Jaguar XJ6 old model).

The thing I did not like is that the pipe is rubbing on the cable to the alternator, so this will have to be sorted out, probably with some foam wrapped round and then taped.

I can see why people are fitting little oil filters as there is absolutely nothing installed with the purpose of collecting any oil vapour before it passes into the inlet tract. This filter mod. should do something to prevent the build up of oily gunge in the inlet manifold that causes the flap valves to stick and the motors to fail due to the excessive effort. MG Rover should really have done this as an original fitment.

The old Jaguar XK engine had just such a collector fitted where the breather exited from the cam chain drive compartment at the front of the engine. There was a metal gauze that allowed oil to collect and drain back, then another mesh (wire wool type), filter, but the really old engines in the 60s had a special cast aluminium collector with internal fins to collect the oil. Jaguar engineers actually made one of these in perspex to allow them to see if it worked, and it did !. Oil was shown to be condensing on the fins which then drained back down into the engine.

I think I will make this filter mod. and hopefully extend the life of my VIS valves

[Fraser Mitchell]

Further to my last post, today I had another look in daylight, and found the T-piece fractured, and also the pipe where it goes into the front cam box. I also had a disaster when trying to move the alternator lead out of the way, (see my other post of today, still unresolved).

Everything was really, really brittle. Where the pipes go into the camboxes, the pipe is a push fit with a little gripper thing to hold it. There is a bit rubber grommet thing, now extremely hard and unrubbery. I extracted the stub of the pipe OK with a bit of gentle pulling. Back pipe is still in place, but looks more difficult as there is no room to work. I'll have to try using a bit of WD40 to help it out when pulling.

Of course now my main problem of the car not starting has to be attended to, (see post of today). This occured after I had a momentary short circuit off the red alternator lead, trying tt move it round using a socket on the nut. This seems to be a trap set by motor engineers to make sure amateurs never try to do anything to their wonderful cars !!

[Reebs]

I noticed the fumes smell again in the cabin, and did a check of the breather pipes, and the *!*$%?* T- piece as gone again on the breather pipes.

Need to get another set, and just 15 months since they were replaced the last time. (see post # 14 in this thread)

Is this the usual life span of the T-Piece, or is it a sign of a different problem?

Also, I can't get to a parts department now until Monday afternoon at the earliest, is there any danger in me driving the car some 140 miles to work and back before that though?

What is the function of these pipes, and if disconnected, what if any detrimental effect will they have on the engine when driven for an extended period? :shrug:

[mark d3]

Just reminded me, temp repaired mine last month with heater hose pushed over the hard plastic pipes and then a standard "T" piece to join it all together. does andbody have the part numbers for the three breather pipes and "T" piece?

sorry for mini hi jack
what do they look like and how big are they i might have something simmilar that i use to repair combi boiler air switchs only its a y shape t peice

[stocktake]

As one gasman to another, anything like that will do ID of pipe is around 12mm IIRC Vacuum pipes from a combi should be fine :)

[mark d3]

As one gasman to another, anything like that will do ID of pipe is around 12mm IIRC Vacuum pipes from a combi should be fine :)
theres the plastic ones that you would get off say a worcs 24i and ariston microgenus these are a bit small at 8mm the other thing that might work is a 10 mm copper t or a 12mm oil line

[stocktake]

24i ones two small me thinks, 10mm soft copper would be ideal, If you look on the manifold where the breather pushes in to the throttle body it is down to about 8mm there, don't know if that would have any bearing on it. You will find the black plastic pipes become very brittle with age.

( why not do it with chrome peglar and be posh :D )

[workaholic_ro]

There are tons of T pneumatic connectors that can be fitted instead the original one for 12 mm pipes.
Festo and Parker Hannifin are only two of the big names.
The most easy to use are the "push and lock" ones.
Here is the Festo version, type CQT-12 (javascript:ShowDetailView('xR,DKI3WebDetailViewV1 ,PartNo,177687,AccessoryTarget,_blank,IFrameID,IFr ame44,DetailViewEnableEngineering,X,xS,IA5CFE9BBF9 B9402FBE5E12D11FCAC4D0,xL,RO','44','detalii','deta lii'))part number 177687.
https://xdki.festo.com/xdki/data/PIC/43CF71CA66964B8EA46E113C89398F25.jpg

Unfortunately, 9 mm is not a standard diameter, a quick connector is not as easy to find. Maybe something like this would fit.

https://xdki.festo.com/xdki/data/PIC/87DF15FFF717425A8404F01C14A08E94.jpg

[fransav]

just checked my t piece and mine too needs replacing well done lads this site is a godsend to someone like me who hasnt got a clue about cars i am always under the bonnet doing the recommended checks three of the neighbours have asked me if i am a mechanic lol

[Collins]

I couldn't get a replacement at a reasonable price over here.
I used a t-piece from the "Gardena" type range, the stuff you use in your garden spraying systems. It's an ok fit after a bit of sanding with a piece of sand paper held around the t piece pipes. If you want to make a better seal, you can put some electric "heat shrink" over beforehand and heat it with a flame lighter.
Seems to be holding out quite well. I leave the acoustic cover off, so that I can keep an eye on the thermostat. ;)

[StevenWilliams]

When I snapped mine fitting a oil catch tank I just went to the shed and used a standard copper pipe T piece that was spare from some plumbing I've done at some time.

Worked a treat.

If the pipe is supported properly there is no reason for them to fracture at all. Mine was 9 years old before I broke it :D

[fransav]

bought a 10mm t piece out of andrew watts £2-75 wee bit sanding perfect