Tiny amount of engine oil smell passing through aircon?
 

I have a new MY15 A/T BRZ that has just passed the 1000km mark on the ODO. I often drive the car around in power mode and alway's drive with the aircon on and have the drivers half of the center vent pointed, more or less, in my face.

Now and then I have noticed a very faint wiff, of an engine oil like smell, pass through the aircon. It seems to happen when taking in fresh air and when under WOT acceleration from stand still and generally when I pass around 4000rpm or so in second or third gear. This happens after the car is pretty warmed up ie the temp sitting at 40 to 45% on the guage.

Now I've check for any oil stains in the drive way and where parked, but there doesn't appear to be any oil stains and in checking the oil level it's stayed consistently full.

I have heard of oil catch cans, but I was under the impression that they deal with an entirely diferrent issue? Thought I'd run this one past the community on here and yes I have tried searching for this, but came up blank sorry. Just wanted to try and narrow down the problem and if I were to take it to the dealer to have them check something specific other than 'I smell oil in my aircon.. fix it'.

At 1,000 km I'd bet you're still burning assembly/protectant oils and coatings off, mine lasted until about 1,000 miles (1,600 km) and even after that got a whiff of something funky every once in awhile.

I'm sure someone will jump in and point you to the numerous oil seeping posts but really all you can do is what you've already done: inspect it once in awhile and hope you don't have to trust some dealership techs to seal it up. I bet the smells go away by your fifth tank of fuel and by your tenth will be a distant memory.

Really appreciate the reply!


I'll give it another two fill ups and post an update here. Otherwise the car's been great :)

I still occasionally get those plastics/oil smells in my car even, and its got 16k km.

Mine as well after about 13,000 miles. Usually when under heavy load or extended periods of spirited driving. I haven't had any issues besides passengers thinking I farted or something.

when my car was new and for the first 1000 miles there was an oil/burning smell after driving sometimes. But nothing since (now at 15K)

to shed light i sent my car in for this yesterday and they are sending the claim to toyota. we are leaking oil and it is hitting our heat shields. something with the valve cover on the passenger side. ill report more when i hear from toyota. take it in it is covered under warranty.

I was getting that a lot after a dealership oil change. Checked the oil and it was way over the full mark. I sucked about a quart out and it was still a little over the full mark, but the smells went away. Needless to say, I'm not going to let the dealership change the oil anymore (not sure why I ever did).

It might be worth mentioning to the dealer at service or when you have a chance. My 2013 is in for warranty service right now (leaking oil from timing cover down onto exhaust).

They fixed mine under warranty along with a driver's side window weatherstriping issue.