Noticed yesterday a nasty smell coming from the engine compartment, seems strongest near the fan. Looked everywhere without removing anything except the Turbo intake manifold cover/shield. Didn't see anything. It doesn't smell like a dead mouse, I really can't tell what it is...never smelled anything like it before. I suppose it's organic... It's a 2021 GT with 11K miles, lives in a climate controlled garage and has only spent a few nights outdoors. Atlanta suburbs. It's been in the garage for 2 weeks without being driven. Do these cars have any history of this, anyone out there ever experienced anything like this?
Stinger has become a stinker
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Ohiocruiser
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And I thought, the hardest part to diagnose, on forums, was sound problems. And now we are talking about smell?!! 
maybe something crawled inside the engine compartment, while it was parked?
maybe something crawled inside the engine compartment, while it was parked?
Snicklefritz
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I know you said 'up front' is stronger smell but check your air filter behind the glove compartment anyway. dead baby mice have been found there more than once on the forum, and in video shared on here.
CKeeler
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Nasty as in, dead animal or trapped moisture? Or something else entirely?
Devin
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Unless you want to start disassembling this, you may want to just drive it until what ever is making the smell desiccates.
Something else entirely, that’s why I posted. I’ve smelled just about everything in my 59 years…. Definitely not any fluid smell, no burning, not a dead rodent, maybe a mix of moisture with organic? But I’ve smelled that with my 25 year old VW. Since it sits in the basement garage with no known rodent activity, just thought I’d ask. Thanks for a good question. I wasn’t sure if Kia planted some material in bay that devolves quickly.
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That’s the plan. It gets the hose tomorrow first for a fresh water wash down and gets driven. Thanks.
vipeboy2000
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never had any smell.... 2020 42k miles, have left in garage for over 2.5 weeks without driving while on trips many times... definitely something thrown up from the road, or crawled in some where while you weren't in the garage .. or something got in your garage when the door was open ....
Hosed out the internal periphery of the engine compartment today with special attention paid to the radiator and condenser area. Drove 33 miles to work and still has the smell. After thinking about it last night, it’s a similar smell to Scott’s Turfbuilder fertilizer, but not exactly. Still doesn’t smell like a dead animal to me. Thanks for the ideas. There are 2 cats that like to hang out around my driveway and I’ve never had rodent issues. Stinger body odor.
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JSolo
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I have had the pleasure of dealing with a car having a rodent family living in the the hvac blower fan wheel.
Taking it apart to clean out was disgusting. They were all dead and the smell was terrible.
I never did get rid of the smell. Got rid of the car instead. Fortunately wasn't my car.
Taking it apart to clean out was disgusting. They were all dead and the smell was terrible.
I never did get rid of the smell. Got rid of the car instead. Fortunately wasn't my car.
I had a similar story but a much better outcome.
Our 2022 Kia Stinger GT1 has always been garaged and had never been out overnight. Garage started to stink and the stench was coming from the left front wheel well. Drove me nuts.
I looked under the hood, removed the fender liner 3 or 4 times and sprayed disinfectant into the areas. Didn't accomplish anything.
Finally gave up and took it to a local car dealer, not a Kia dealer but I know the service manager well. Technician found the problem. He found a rat had gotten into the foam in the crash mitigation material of the bumper, had gotten trapped and died.
The unusual thing is that in the nearly 12 yrs since the house was built, I've never seen a rat or mouse.
Car has never had any odors before or since. Don
Our 2022 Kia Stinger GT1 has always been garaged and had never been out overnight. Garage started to stink and the stench was coming from the left front wheel well. Drove me nuts.
I looked under the hood, removed the fender liner 3 or 4 times and sprayed disinfectant into the areas. Didn't accomplish anything.
Finally gave up and took it to a local car dealer, not a Kia dealer but I know the service manager well. Technician found the problem. He found a rat had gotten into the foam in the crash mitigation material of the bumper, had gotten trapped and died.
The unusual thing is that in the nearly 12 yrs since the house was built, I've never seen a rat or mouse.
Car has never had any odors before or since. Don
That’s great info. Just got back from a 33 mile commute and the smell is still strongest just above the fan. Found out the radiator and condenser cover/valence is part of the grill. Ugh. It’s going up on the ramps tomorrow and the belly pan is coming off. And I too have never seen a mouse…. It’s more fertilizer like in smell. When I find out I’ll report back.
Don— Was the stench you experienced a no-doubter dead mouse or animal? —Dave
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