Okay JK tech gurus, time to fire up your crystal balls for me.

Jaydoc1

New member
This is really going to seem like a ridiculous question to ask via the internet but I am on the off chance that someone will say, "Hey I had that exact thing and it was this" before I take it in to get looked at.

Today I had the JK out (2013 JKUR, auto, 3" Enforcer on 35s with King shocks so you know what I'm dealing with) on a very mild trail with a cooler in the back, 3 full-sized adults and two 10-ish year old kids. Not overloaded in other words.

We had been driving about 1.5 hours with no real stress on the engine or transmission. 4-lo engaged. Sway bar disconnected.

When we stopped for lunch and I went to open the tailgate there was a strange smell at the right rear of the Jeep.

The smell did not smell like gas. It did not smell like a hot engine. It did not smell like anything hot at all, in fact. The closest thing that I can compare the odor to is something like an adhesive or solvent, or maybe a propellent like in an aerosol can (none of these things were a cause of the smell, BTW).

The engine was running perfectly. No knocks. No smoking. No overheating. No strange odors from the exhaust. Nothing out of the ordinary.

The only strange thing that had happened all morning was that at one point, when I put the transfer case back in two-wheel drive the transmission would not shift in to drive (or reverse for that matter). It was stuck in neutral. I shut the Jeep off, turned it back on and then it shifted fine.

So the smell dissipated as we ate lunch. There were no leaks anywhere that I could find.

At that point I figured that maybe the smell was related to a different vehicle in the parking area where we were and we proceeded on.

About an hour later the smell came back with a vengeance, this time in the cabin (soft top on, all windows up, A/C on). Again no performance issues at all. We were in 4-Hi at this time.

I crawled all around under the Jeep and could not find any kind of fluid leak whatsoever. After about 30 minutes of looking around, and being about an hour from home, we decided to pack it in, rolled down all the windows, flipped back the freedom top, put the JK in 2-wheel and headed home. Smell gone within about 15 minutes and didn't recur.

I am completely stumped as to what this might be and would love to have at least some sort of educated guess before I head to a stealership where they could tell me it was absolutely anything as they play "Guess the cause" at several hundred dollars a pop.

Any ideas would be welcome.

Thanks!

Jim
 
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wayoflife

Administrator
Staff member
First off, your transfer case not shifting isn't anything unusual and most likely unrelated to whatever you were smelling. In fact, it's in times like that where people keep on trying to shift anyway and end up breaking one of the shift cable bushings. What you did was right and clearly it worked.

As far as the odor you were smelling goes, I should point out that your axle vent tube is located right next to the rear quarter panel of your Jeep. Being that you smelled it near your tailgate, that would have been my first guess. Although, it would have smelled like gear oil so, that may not have been what you were smelling. Hard to say for sure what it was without smelling it myself but, I'll give it some more thought.
 

Dirt Foot

Member
This is really going to seem like a ridiculous question to ask via the internet but I am on the off chance that someone will say, "Hey I had that exact thing and it was this" before I take it in to get looked at.

Today I had the JK out (2013 JKUR, auto, 3" Enforcer on 35s with King shocks so you know what I'm dealing with) on a very mild trail with a cooler in the back, 3 full-sized adults and two 10-ish year old kids. Not overloaded in other words.

We had been driving about 1.5 hours with no real stress on the engine or transmission. 4-lo engaged. Sway bar disconnected.

When we stopped for lunch and I went to open the tailgate there was a strange smell at the right rear of the Jeep.

The smell did not smell like gas. It did not smell like a hot engine. It did not smell like anything hot at all, in fact. The closest thing that I can compare the odor to is something like an adhesive or solvent, or maybe a propellent like in an aerosol can (none of these things were a cause of the smell, BTW).

The engine was running perfectly. No knocks. No smoking. No overheating. No strange odors from the exhaust. Nothing out of the ordinary.

The only strange thing that had happened all morning was that at one point, when I put the transfer case back in two-wheel drive the transmission would not shift in to drive (or reverse for that matter). It was stuck in neutral. I shut the Jeep off, turned it back on and then it shifted fine.

So the smell dissipated as we ate lunch. There were no leaks anywhere that I could find.

At that point I figured that maybe the smell was related to a different vehicle in the parking area where we were and we proceeded on.

About an hour later the smell came back with a vengeance, this time in the cabin (soft top on, all windows up, A/C on). Again no performance issues at all. We were in 4-Hi at this time.

I crawled all around under the Jeep and could not find any kind of fluid leak whatsoever. After about 30 minutes of looking around, and being about an hour from home, we decided to pack it in, rolled down all the windows, flipped back the freedom top, put the JK in 2-wheel and headed home. Smell gone within about 15 minutes and didn't recur.

I am completely stumped as to what this might be and would love to have at least some sort of educated guess before I head to a stealership where they could tell me it was absolutely anything as they play "Guess the cause" at several hundred dollars a pop.

Any ideas would be welcome.

Thanks!

Jim

That's really weird. I had the same exact smell come from my 2012 JKU 2 days ago. I left work to go to lunch and the same sort of smell was coming inside the cab. Hard top on, windows up and ac on. Kind of smelled like a chemical to me. It lasted for the ride to and from lunch then has not come back since. I thought it may have been coming through the vents. Anyone else have any ideas.
 

wayoflife

Administrator
Staff member
I wonder if what you're smelling is ozone - like what you would smell on electronic equipment.
 

Brent McCartney

New member
Have you recently had a/c serviced? Probably coming from the a/c . my Silverado would emit a smell occasionally from the a/c after being run for a long period of time.
 

Jaydoc1

New member
Thanks, Eddie, I'll check out the axle vent tube as I did not take a close look at that. It didn't have a gear oil smell, however. Not an ozone or electronic smell either.

I have not had any A/C service recently but did think it could possibly be related to the HVAC system. It didn't start inside the cabin initially, however.

I've been driving it several hours since it happened with no recurrence. My inclination at this point, with no real cause that I can locate, is to keep driving and see if it happens again before taking it in to get looked at.

Thanks all.
 

MTG

Caught the Bug
First guess, diff fluid.
Second guess, other vehicle.
Third guess, chupacabra.
 

Dirt Foot

Member
No ac work for me either. Definitely not a hot smell but a chemical smell. Like solvent of some kind. Mine did it that one time a few days ago and hasn't done it again.
I'm thinking Chupacabra too!
 

wayoflife

Administrator
Staff member
LOL at Chupacabra!! :cheesy:

Man, I've given this a lot of thought and most everything on a vehicle that would emit odor is usually some kind of oil or fuel. If nothing is leaking and nothing is burning, it's sure tough to think what it might be.
 

Jaydoc1

New member
LOL at Chupacabra!! :cheesy: Man, I've given this a lot of thought and most everything on a vehicle that would emit odor is usually some kind of oil or fuel. If nothing is leaking and nothing is burning, it's sure tough to think what it might be.

I know. It's driving me crazy. And it hasn't happened since. Guess ill just take it back out on a reasonable trail and see if it acts up or behaves.

Sure appreciate everyone trying to diagnose a strange odor via the internet!
 

chipper

Member
Maybe you guys had a passenger pass gas and just didn't fess up???:cheesy::cheesy:

^^^ this is my guess too!! Dirtfoot is my brother and I know for a fact he has all kind of crazy smells coming outta that jeep. 💩
 

thardy

Banned
It's a long shot, but could it have been a skunk? Could have possibly scared one on the trail and it sprayed near the Jeep? Like I said, long shot, but you never know.
 
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