Back w/ question on my 98 Villager, 117k great maint., having a stong "emission/exhaust" smell. Not gas,underside likecatalyatic converter burning odor. Drove southover 2,000 mi., and started to really smell during warmer weather. Back in colder climate last mo. (Jan.) temp. went away, and now doing it again. Check Eng. light just came on, so going to just drop a New EGR Valve in. Yet, could this be a plugged Cat. issue as well ?? Haven''t checked the code''s yet.


Quick 250 mi. trip before check eng. light on, and the gas milage dropped BIG time. Just tooling around town at moment, and just starting to idle rough as well today.


Appreciate any thougths.

it could be a clogged EGR return tube. it could be a clogged cat.

get the codes read. it should tell you what sensor is having issues (autozone reads codes for free and most parts places worth your time will do so as well because they want to sell you the part). Let us know what the code is and we can help point you at the right fix or possible fixes.

If the cat is going it would smell like rotten eggs. If it were clogged you would notice a drop in power, changed exhaust note(muffled), plus your MPG droppage. Look under the vehicle at night and see if the cat is glowing red or just tap it with a hammer and listen for broken up honeycomb rattling around inside. And have those codes pulled and see whats up.

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Hey guys, thanks.. At pushing 10 + years and 120K, I dropped a new EGR in tonight, and even the BPT hose (it was pretty britle). Didn''t pull codes (have a toggle wire), yet jumped on EGR as most suspect. (down road w/ other veh.''s).


Didn''t notice glow on cat., and didn''t tap (I''ll do tomorrow night). As for rotton egg smell, that about pinned it. Obv. eng. light''s reset, and didn''t smell bad this eve., yet only ran for a few min.


The large nut into side of EGR, struggled to get torqed good (largest box I have is a 22mm, and this seams to be a 24mm). Snugged w/ a visegrip, yet didn''t want to chew/mark up coming from up from bottom.


Yet, now notice idle is now "rough" and the "exhaust" has that muffled sound, yet have had that flex pipe section not hold up well (2nd one). Thinking I need to get it up higher and get some arm on that largernut/tube into EGR. I see for some, makes it sound like exhaust manif. has a broken stud, and it didn''t make sound before, unless that Cat. is still issue and just backing up through small hole(s).


I''ll run around this week, and try to get in &amp; price Cat. and see how bad they''ll tag me.


Thanks again...

if you reset the computer, then it will take 4-8 full temperature cycles to dial itself in again. It may run rough while this process takes place.

I''m pertty sure the codes will remain stored even if you reset. Probably big bucks for the cat, might find it used at the bone yard for one-third the price. But new is better of course.

you can get a muffler shop to install a universal cat for probably $150-$200 (don''t go to the major chains for this, find a good corner shop). There''s a shop I know of that will do single cat designs for $110, but that''s here in texas (fort worth).

codes will not remain when a computer is reset, resetting the computer clears the codes, but they may show up again if the issue is not fixed.

Not true, there are numerous car ECU''s that store trouble codes in memory that do not need power to remain. That is if you reset by pulling the neg. terminal for short while. If the coded problem is corrected and reset with the proper scantool, then it is BYE-BYE code and so begins the drive cycles to retrain and check all systems.

right... I keep forgetting that some of the newer cars have nvram. I''m too used to pre-OBD-II systems.

Hey, thanks for info. from BOTH of ya !! Did hit the "Corner" store, that would do an OEM Cat. for $225. Problem is, these Villager''s have 2 and muffler. Had them run a flow test, and it actually passed well !!, so they suggested just hold off, not knowing which cat. could be issue. Of course, it didn''t smell during their test. Then today, temp.''s up +40° to mid 60''s, and stink''s again. Like my trip to Texas in Jan. when this started (live in IA.).


And to boot, still getting crappy milage. Milage was great to Texas except smell started, then in Feb.milage crapped out &amp; eng. light,so did the EGR per above. Guess time to see if any code remains. Just still firm it''s a cat. (but didn''t price the mid one), so justriding it out.