hello all, the smell is caused by the raw fuel burning in the catalytic converter. most common cause for this is an intermittently failing oxygen sensor, causing a temporary rich condition. how many miles? if your around 60k or better, get a new O2 sensor along with 2 bottles of fuel injection cleaner....ever change the fuel filter? that can cause over pressure in the fuel rail, richening the mixture temporarily. this smell usually happens under hard acceleration, if it starts to happen more frequently, check engine light may come on. O2 sensor and fuel filters are maintenance items every 60k miles. boopdad

nice, but my car was new when it did this. but only under hard acceleration. why doesn't it happen in Domestics? I've never had this smell with Any Domestic car.