Egg smell!

[england1987]

I just got back from driving around. I did a short spirited sprint to near red-line in 3rd, and when I stopped there was this strong, quite distinct smell of rotten eggs. It was quite strong to say the least. It followed me for about 1/2 mile, and was gone. What causes this? I've read that it could be the cats, but would that happen on a car with 7000 miles?

Is this anything I should be worried about?

What problems could this cause?
I've heard loss of power / rough idle?
Are there any other problems?

Basically, do I need BMW to look at it?

[Ben Carufel]

For what it's worth:

That smell is your cats trying to deal with unburned fuel being pushed through them.

It shouldn't cause any problems. It shouldn't happen, but under certain conditions it does. M5's sometimes do it, as well.

It's worth noting on the repair order next time you take your car in for service/warranty work, that way you are creating a paper trail of it in case it becomes a serious problem later on down the line.

[Ron Stygar]

I just got back from driving around. I did a short spirited sprint to near red-line in 3rd, and when I stopped there was this strong, quite distinct smell of rotten eggs. It was quite strong to say the least. It followed me for about 1/2 mile, and was gone. What causes this? I've read that it could be the cats, but would that happen on a car with 7000 miles?

Is this anything I should be worried about?

What problems could this cause?
I've heard loss of power / rough idle?
Are there any other problems?

Basically, do I need BMW to look at it?

Put back your charcoal filter and see if it fixes it in time.

[Caddyshk]

I just got back from driving around. I did a short spirited sprint to near red-line in 3rd, and when I stopped there was this strong, quite distinct smell of rotten eggs. It was quite strong to say the least. It followed me for about 1/2 mile, and was gone. What causes this? I've read that it could be the cats, but would that happen on a car with 7000 miles?

Is this anything I should be worried about?

What problems could this cause?
I've heard loss of power / rough idle?
Are there any other problems?

Basically, do I need BMW to look at it?I've read using poor quality or the wrong fuel can cause this too...

[dug01]

I just got back from driving around. I did a short spirited sprint to near red-line in 3rd, and when I stopped there was this strong, quite distinct smell of rotten eggs. It was quite strong to say the least. It followed me for about 1/2 mile, and was gone. What causes this? I've read that it could be the cats, but would that happen on a car with 7000 miles?


Basically, do I need BMW to look at it?

This happened to me once in my Z4--But it wasn't the car--I just crapped my pants :D

[england1987]

Put back your charcoal filter and see if it fixes it in time.

I put that thing back in a while ago. (It actually wasn't out long)