Manager Forum

I have this Vitara in here that customer states the exhaust smells like rotten eggs.

Another shop put an engine in it, then put in the very rear converter. I get it and drive it, I found B1S1 O2 stuck at .430 mv, and bank 1 not going into closed loop, replaced sensor and now that one works ok, and is now going into closed loop on both banks. Watching the O2s on scanner, B2S2 is very lazy, driving down the road it basically stays at .725mv unless I let off the gas then it goes to .14mv, B1S2 toggles, but not as fast as the B1S1 does. Exhaust smells better now, but I am thinking that one of the rear O2s are not good, I am going to do a backpressure test to see if one of the front converters is bad.

Otherwise anyone have any ideas what else to look at to keep this thing from stinking?

B2S2 should remain steady if the cat is working. Only the primary O2's should fluctuate. The more steady the reading, the better the cat is functioning. If it's fluctuating like the primary, the cat is not working.

Most rotten-egg smell complaints have more to do with the amount of sulfur in the fuel than the operation of the emissions system. But of course you would want to make sure all is well before you blame the fuel.

Agree with Ric. The vehicle will need to be driven for what the customer may think is an unreasonable amount of time until the cat burns clean. I strongly suggest no wonder chemicals be added and the cat visually inspected after a long drive to see if it's cherry red. If it get unusually hot it may mean it's overworking because of a fuel air ratio issue. Don't you just love cleaning up after other shops and afterwards taking all the hits because of their fails.