jeremynd01

Thanks for chiming in, all. I looked up those EPA gas standards '_jacek mentioned. I found them under the title "Tier 2/gasoline sulfur," which passed in 1999 and phases into full effect in 2007. Here's the link: http://www.epa.gov/otaq/tr2home.htm One of the documents breaks the sulfur content of gas down like this (all numbers are parts per million (ppm)): Gasoline Suflur Standards Date Max RefineryAvg. CorperateAvg. 2004 300 120? 120 2005 300 30 90 2006 80 30 30? I don't know why some dates list a separate "corporate average" from "refinery average," but there's lots of talk in the document about applying for relief and getting credits for cleaning up early, so there's still a chance the levels are higher. PS. Thanks, Nug and Gnuman, for pointing out my fetish.

What - there's CHEAP bootleg gas from China? Where can I get some? Will it be less than $2/gal?? Just kidding! I fill up at the BP at the end of my street. When I first noticed the stench in December, I thought it might be a bad tank of gas I got on the highway during holiday travel. At the suggestion of the dealer I tried other brands, other stations, and even filled up out of state once. Nothing made the smell subside, and, quite frankly, I don't think I'm going to drive out of my way to get gas when hundreds of millions of cars on the road don't have this problem (so it's not something beyond the scope of repair). Thank you immensely for the chemistry lesson! I was tired of reading posts by wanna-be grease monkeys that contradicted each other (i.e. "The rotten egg smell means the cat is working!" versus "The rotten egg smell means the mixture is lean/rich!" versus "Rotten egg smell? I bet you cat is hotter than the surface of the sun"). I think a trip to the dealer for a new O2 sensor is in order. I'm also going to have a look for the federal regulations you mentioned. The Subaru dealer slipped me a printout of some 2000 data that showed gas in NY at 150+ ppm of sulfer content, while CA is regulated to <30 ppm. I'd like to find out nationwide stats with these new regs. I might also have a chat with the EPA and Ohio's sulfer emissions guy, who I found online the other day. I was afraid these folks would be too busy with coal plants and steel mills to bother with a few million Subaru bustling around, stinking up the place, but the success of the Toyota owners has heartened me. Thanks!

Hello all! My wife and I have an '04 Forest that STINKS (literally, not mechanically. Well, maybe mechanically...). The exhaust generates the worst rotten egg smell one can imagine. If it weren't for the dumb auto-dimming rear view mirror, perhaps I wouldn't have to look at all the crinkled noses in traffic behind me! I've had it in to the dealer, and they blame it on Ohio's crummy, high-sulfer content gas. They actually said, "Your car's an LEV (low emmisions vehicle). That's why it smells so bad." Well, paint me crazy, but shouldn't an LEV NOT smell like butt crack? From what I can gather, their excuse is that the car conforms to California emmissions, and so they assume the use of low-sulfer California gas. Which is to say it's been engineered to do nothing about sulfer emissions. I think this is a big load of bull butter. I asked if this is common, and they said they get this complaint all the time. I figured if that were true, and if every Forest in the 49 states that are not California smell bad, there should be people griping about it all over Google. I see plenty of people complaining about Toyota 4Runners and old Chevy's, but very few Subaru gripes. I've read a lot about emissions and such, and many folks say funny exhaust smells are typically caused by catalytic converter failure or a bad oxygen sensor. I see that the cat'converter reduces NOx to nitrogen and oxygen: 2NO => N2 + O2 or 2NO2 => N2 + 2O2 and that it oxidizes carbon monoxide to the lesser evil, carbon dioxide: 2CO + O2 => 2CO2 but I don't see any thing to substantiate the claims that the rotten egg smell means the cat'converter is working (i.e. producing dihydrogen sufide), or that the opposite is true - a failed cat doesn't crack a suflide. In fact, I don't see any mention of sulfer at all, and I'm not a very good chemist. Anyone out there know more about catalytic converters, maybe clear this up? What about the theory that the car running at a bad fuel mixture (due to a faulty oxygen sensor) would cause it? If you're a Forester owner and do (or do not!) have this problem, please, chime in! I'd like to see how alone in this I am.