sulfer smell
 

I have been noticing a sulfer-ish smell when I come to a light after getting on the gas. It isn't running funny or setting a light and doesn't appear to be sucking the gas down. Should I be looking into new cats?

no you should change brands of gasoline, as the sulphur smell is from fuel that has a high sulphur content

Could be a sign of a faulty exhaust system.

your cats could be failing.

its NOT the converters, cats DO NOT give off a smell:shakeno:
it's from the fuel/gas he is using and it will screw-up the fuel sending unit after while, there is a TSB on this and several brands of gas to use that DO NOT have the hight sulphur content, asper FoMoCo

What stations are listed to not buy from? We had some problems with Cadillacs at work regarding the same issue but I never got the list for the stations to avoid.

Thanks guys. I will have to see if the local Ford dealerships have any kind of list or info on that TSB.

try to stay with fuels sourced in the US or at least not in middle east countries.

It's an easy rhyme...say it with me:

Conoco, Sunoco, Texaco, Chevron. Those are premium fuels from the USA that I always recommend to people. They have significant wells in the continental US so at least you'll be supporting terror at home. Whatever you do don't buy ANY citgo gas. It's from Venezuela and they're trying to pick fights right now... best to let them see we don't care.

Here's a list (a little old I admit) of who gets the money from your fuel purchases:
Chevron American
Coastal American
Conoco American
Esso American
Exxon American
Gas Express American
Getty American
Gulf American
Hess American
Kerr-McGee American
Marathon American
Martin American
Mobil American
Murphy USA American
Pate American
Petro American
Phillips 66 American
Sergaz American
Sinclair American
Sonoco American
Spur American
Star Kleen American
STP Fuel Centers American
Sunoco American
Tenneco American
Texaco American
Ultramar American
Union 76 American
Zephyr American
Amoco UK
Arco UK
Boron UK
BP UK
Citgo Venezuela
Futura FIN
Red Rooster Canada
Shell Netherlands
Sohio UK
Standard UK
Total France

I think the list of approved stations from FoMoCo was: BP, Phillips and Chevron from what I can remember, there are others.

well thats funny...my 4.6 t-bird's cats started to rattle, and a few weeks later I smelled that smell...got new converters and the smell and rattle were gone. If a cat goes bad it cant scrub the exhaust properly..

we are talking about a Sulpher Smell in this thread, which comes from gasoline wth a high sulpher content. this is on a 2001 Mustang not some old t-bird, we DO NOT see converter problems out of the Mustangs like we did wth the birds & cougars, apples and oranges dude.

It sounds like your convertors are stopped up.

Personally, I don't like Sunnoco since their fuels are very dirty. Back when I had a moped, everytime I filled up from them, the vent for the tank always clogged. Just my two cents.

Ive never even seen of 80% of those stations. All we have around here is BP, Citgo, Speedway, Mobile, Shell, and mom and pop shops.

ok...so a 1994 4.6L is SO much different from a 2001 4.6L? whatever...I know what happened to me...and what happens to the Bimmers I work on day after day. Customer complains of a sulfur-like smell...I scan the car and get catalytic inefficiency codes...tap the cats lightly and bingo...they rattle...time for new cats. pop on some new cats and the smell is gone. Im not trying to argue with you or say you are wrong...I am just backing up what I said about what happened to me and to many-a-Bimmers I have worked on. if the cats cant scrub the exhaust like they should there will be a smell...and when the sulfer in the gas isnt scrubbed clean buy properly working cats...you get that smell. Its not a 100% of the time thing...but it can and does happen.

then the sulfur is coming from the gas and the cats are being wrecked by contamination with sulfur particulate condensate. Randy is saying that the gas is at fault and he's 100% right. Bad cats are a symptom and not a cause.

You dorks are arguing about agreeing. Jeebus. Solve the damned problem and tell your customers with crapped out cats to switch gas stations.

I get 93 at BP here and its gooooood stuff.

ok, I guess I need to start ignoring the service bulletins BMW sends us then...lol.

there is sulfer in gas...right? do cats scrub exhaust? if you blow smelly air through a filter and it comes out not smelly...when that filter wears out that air would be smelly again. I guess thats what im getting at. my car's exhaust didnt smell like HC's when I had my cats on...now the cats are gone and I smell HC's aka...old 60's muscle car smell...gassy smell.

so, weren't the cats scrubbing that smell out?

Using a gas with lower sulfur content will solve his problem...I dont contest that.

First and foremost, cats do NOT scrub anything.

They're not a filter. They're a high temperature catalysing (sp?) burn chamber. The sulphur is not scrubbed, it's burned and the oxidized residue and sublimated elemental sulphur are blocking the cats from properly heating and burning the unburned HC and Sulphur and other contaminants.

You should tell your customers to buy better gas, and keep paying attention to the service bullitens.HC and sulphur smell very different. If you're getting a sulphur smell then you have crappy gas.

I can't be anymore clear or diplomatic than that. I'm telling you hippies that you're both right in your own special way and to shut up about it... :)

EDIT: your customers my benefit from a bigger cat. At least it won't clog as fast. You'll have to put it a little closer to the header to keep the temp up but that's 1 possible treatment if not a solution

scrub/burn/remove/destroy...to me, on this subject, its all the same.

we are not allowed to put any non-bmw part on any car at any time for any reason. fvck it...i guess Bimmers differ a bit from Fords. YAY SULFUR!!! lol.

That sounds like a bimmer scam.BMW=$$$$

exactly. I agree. but it is 100% true that BMW parts work the best on BMW's.

I'd say that's true of just about any manufacturer. Ford parts work best on fords (mostly), chebbie parts for bowties, pentastar parts for dodge, etc...

BMW isn't scamming anyone. They're just saving some money of their own by putting parts with known mean-time-before-failure averages. They know exactly how long those should last so there's no guesswork. But yeah.. I agree that OEM parts are absurdly expensive for what you get in most cases.

Having anything done at a dealership is just pissing money away. I'm sure that the parts are great,there German made after all. Its the service too they stick you on.