Worst Automotive Smell? (Page 1 of 3)

I think it is a toss-up between those two.

Not 100% automotive related, but the decaying smell of the plastic handles on old tools. Screwdrivers mostly. I don't know what it is, but they smell terrible and instantly make me picture my grandfather's toolbox.

I can deal with burnt oil. But old, burnt grease on the other hand is not ok. And it sticks with you, literally.

best taste? Coolant (ones without a bittering agent anyway). Long story that involves my now long gone 924S.

Ancient hydraulic fluid from Cat D5 that has been in Iraq since probably the first one rolled off the line in the 1940's...and then never maintained.  We had one in Ramadi that a local contractor brought in and both primary rams seeped.  I was parked 15' from my hooch at night and I would loose my sense of smell until I had been of that camp for a couple days.

Old old old rear end lube with LSD additive is some pretty repulsive stuff.

that.

The final owner of an RV is always a junkie. An incontinent, morbidly obese junkie, who eats half-price knockwurst from the Dollar Store and rubs his orifices all over the latches of the engine cover, so that you need to dip your hands in fuming nitric acid after pulling an RV engine.

I had no idea either.  I often keep soldering gear and various chemicals/sealants/etc in my tool boxes, and have always wondered what it was that started stinking after a time, and never narrowed it down.  Decaying plastic never even entered my mind, I've practically grown up with that smell.  LOL

Transmission fluid is one that I just can't stand the smell of, burnt or otherwise.

It's odd, but the various odors is actually something I've always loved about getting to the track, the smell of burnt rubber, the various exhaust fumes with varying degrees of oil/antifreeze mixed in, burned out clutches, the asphalt....  I'm normally not an early riser (EVER!), but when camping at the track, it's great getting up right as the sun starts to come up, breathing in that track air and watching the golden sunlight begin to illuminate everything, there's definitely something magical about it.

Nope...smelled it many a time and the ancient hydraulic fluid baking for 70+ years in the 118f heat. It is a close second but after it hits air it goes away in about 3-5 days.  I still smell that hydraulic fluid in my nightmares.

Last time I ever go to a rager with Rick Santorum...

I'll put the organic fluid used from the factory in British lever-arm shocks up against anything.  When you unscrew the little plug that's been in place for 50 years and let the smell out it's almost immediately following by vomiting.  The two together (depending on what came back up) trump any bad smell I've ever experienced, automotive or otherwise.

I remember working on Fiats in the 80's. The wheel bearing grease seemed to have fish oil in it. You would pull off the dust cap & the shop would just reek of it.

I bought a small flatbed dolly there last September or October for use at the office. The only cosmoline on the thing was on the wheel bearings. I wiped them down when I pulled it out of the box and the thing still smells damn awful. I wonder if HF "cosmoline" is really just rancid raccoon fat.