Exhaust Smell in cabin, valve cover gasket & oil cooler gasket

[Beachd]

Hello all, I own a 2012 Chevy Sonic Lt with a 1.8 4 cylinder motor. I have been having issues with this car having exhaust smell coming into the cabin. I found an oil leak coming from the valve cover, fixed that with a brand new valve cover and gasket. No more oil leaking coming from there. Looked on line and saw people saying the oil cooler gasket can leak. The gasket did indeed look bad. I changed the gasket and then reassembled. I am still having the problem with the smell of exhaust coming through the vents. Especially when I have the heat to cycle the whole vehicle and the heat directed at the floor. I than changed the cabin filter. Still did not help. I replaced my exhaust where it was cracked and broken already. I do not know what to do now. I am at a stand still.

Ps. ALL the issues started when my coil pack went out, and was causing alot of miss firing. I think that is what caused the valve cover gasket and oil cooler gasket leaks. It was knocking hard and I had to drive 15 miles to the auto store, because I was traveling in a very rural part of Michigan. WHen I replaced the coil and spark plugs no problem. Noticed the leak and smell after my trip. I have 121,000 miles on the car. The engine sounds great, and drives well, but that smell is bad.

Hope you can help.

 

[skurtov]

Hello all, I own a 2012 Chevy Sonic Lt with a 1.8 4 cylinder motor. I have been having issues with this car having exhaust smell coming into the cabin. I found an oil leak coming from the valve cover, fixed that with a brand new valve cover and gasket. No more oil leaking coming from there. Looked on line and saw people saying the oil cooler gasket can leak. The gasket did indeed look bad. I changed the gasket and then reassembled. I am still having the problem with the smell of exhaust coming through the vents. Especially when I have the heat to cycle the whole vehicle and the heat directed at the floor. I than changed the cabin filter. Still did not help. I replaced my exhaust where it was cracked and broken already. I do not know what to do now. I am at a stand still.

Ps. ALL the issues started when my coil pack went out, and was causing alot of miss firing. I think that is what caused the valve cover gasket and oil cooler gasket leaks. It was knocking hard and I had to drive 15 miles to the auto store, because I was traveling in a very rural part of Michigan. WHen I replaced the coil and spark plugs no problem. Noticed the leak and smell after my trip. I have 121,000 miles on the car. The engine sounds great, and drives well, but that smell is bad.

Hope you can help.

Get your exhaust re-tested, smoke test it for leaks. You went down a completely different rabbit hole. Exhaust smells don't come from valve covers & oil coolers.

 

[Beachd]

Reply

I did have oil coming from the valve cover and leaking onto the manifold, and the oil cooler was also leaking onto the hot exhaust manifold. It was burning oil smell. Now that all of the oil leaks are now fixed. Like you said I still am smelling it. I fixed the leaks first because the smell was very very bad in the cabin. Now it still smells bad, but not very bad like before. It must be an exhaust leak. I am just wondering how it is escaping into the cabin of the car. Any thoughts?

 

[zomby woof]

I had the same problem when my PCV went bad and the valve cover was leaking. After everything was fixed it took a while for the smell to go away.

 

[Beachd]

I fixed everything, and the valve cover is brand new, I have been having the smell issue for 2 months since I have change the valve cover. Like the forum above I am going to check for exhaust leak. I have read on other platforms people say that they have had PCV valve go bad, and when change fixed the issue. IDK... I hope its an exhaust leak so I do not have to deal with finding other rationale.