Odd smell and damage to engine sound proofing foam

Faults and Technical chat for the Volvo XC40
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DWB
Posts: 14
Joined: Thu Aug 27, 2020 11:49 pm

Post by DWB »

Folks,

An odd one that maybe someone can give me a steer on.

I have a MY22 T3 Manual which has given me no trouble to date. UK RHD but currently based out of Switzerland, which may be relevant.

Doing the school run today, I had a relative drive the car as they will be doing the pickups next week while I am away.

He had been idling in the car while i picked up the kids, when we were taking off then there was a very strong smell that unfortunately i can’t describe with certainty. It was a burning smell, it could have been rubber, it could have been partly that burning electrics smell, I just not cant say for sure. At the time I thought it was the car in front of us but when i got home and opened the engine compartment I could smell a residual odour.

There were no warnings from the car, the oil is at 80% according to the dash.

When i opened the bonnet, i noticed some minor damage to the noise proofing foam that covers the engine block, see the attached pictures. We also have the noise proofing foam on the underside of the bonnet which is undamaged. It’s probably been a few months since I last filled the windscreen fluid and i don’t remember seeing that damage then. It could be totally unrelated to the smell, there is no obvious connection, but i wonder if anyone has seen this type damage before - again see the pics. We are based in Switzerland at the moment which is relevant as a. It’s quite hot, 31c today and b. I know anecdotally that martens/weasels damaging engine compartments is a thing here. I can see no obvious damage anywhere else in the engine other than the cosmetic damage to the sound proofing foam.

I have left the engine running for about 15 minutes since getting home and there does not seem to be any new odour being created but their is a faint whiff of the odour lingering. This is all with an hour or so of the odour first manifesting.

So im thinking maybe the foam was a rodent of some description unrelated to the smell and that the smell may have been the relative unfamiliar with the car holding the breaks while idled on a incline.

Any thoughts? Is that pie in the sky and there is something more obvious. Due for its first service in 2 months and would like to avoid the very expensive swiss dealer until then if possible.

Cheers.

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T3 R Design Pro Fusion Red with Sunroof, Parking Assist & Power Seats.

Due August 21

Krystof
Posts: 61
Joined: Wed Feb 09, 2022 4:15 pm
Location: Czech Republic

Post by Krystof »

Hi there,

It looks like maybe a marten got in there and had a bit of a snack. I'm in the Czech Republic and we have them here too - a few years ago one of them completely shredded the noise insulation in my engine bay. Annoying, but nothing more - sometimes they will chew through cables and cause some real damage, but my little guy obviously didn't get that far.

It does seem like a strange coincidence with the smell you noticed, so it'd probably be best to do a thorough check in case there is any damage to cables, hoses and the like, but I think if your marten had actually chewed through something like that, it would have caused some serious malfunction, not just a strange smell.

There are various things on the market to deter martens - sprays apparently don't work very well, but I had a gizmo fitted that emits ultrasound signals, which apparently they don't like. (https://www.marderabwehr.de/en/advice/repel-martens/) I don't know how effective it really is, but no martens ever returned to my car after that, so maybe there's something in it. I don't need it now because I park in a garage.
bitskull
Posts: 1
Joined: Thu Jul 28, 2022 2:03 pm
Location: EU

Post by bitskull »

Hi, I don't think it's a marten. I'm convinced it's the heat - I found bits and pieces all over the place. The car has only driven 15,000 km - including 2 trips to the sea of 2,000 km each.
Volvo XC 40 T4 2019
Deleted User 3359

Post by Deleted User 3359 »

That doesn't look like heat damage, much more like "mechanical" damage. There's no sign of charring, or melting, but there are signs of cracking where perhaps something has tried to pull bits off. Perhaps some of the bits that have come off have dropped onto the exhaust or some other hot part?
Felindre
Posts: 777
Joined: Wed Dec 23, 2020 2:19 pm
Location: South Wales, UK

Post by Felindre »

Or whatever caused it got cooked on the exhaust :-(
B4 AWD Inscription , Fusion Red, Blond interior. Drivers Assist, Climate, Tinted rear windows and Towing pack.
Ordered 14 Dec 20, delivered 10 March 21
DWB
Posts: 14
Joined: Thu Aug 27, 2020 11:49 pm

Post by DWB »

Thanks for the input folks.

The car was just in for its first service & i asked the mechanic to have a look at damage to the foam.

He said it was rodent damage, most likely marten. Apparently they see a fair bit of this damage on cars in the suburbs of geneva. The smell - which lasted only a day or two - he could only guess was the foam burning on a hot surface in the engine compartment.

Luckily no other damage to the car. Will be leaving it in the garage next spring during the ‘nesting season’
T3 R Design Pro Fusion Red with Sunroof, Parking Assist & Power Seats.

Due August 21
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