Air leakage??

[Aceius]

Hey Guys, hopefully you can help me out.

For the last little bit i've been noticing that theres some sort of leak coming into the car on the drivers side somehow. During the colder days even with the heat up i could always feel a cold draft coming in. It gets really bad soemtimes when i'm able to smell the exhaust from another car or even my windshield wiper fluid which i've never experienced before!!??

I got my girlfriend to drive the car a few days ago and she noticed it as well, seems to be coming somewhere from the lower left hand side of the steering column, her hands and knee were frozen by the time we reached our destination.

Any ideas??

Mike (Mazda 3 Sport GT-E)

[cwp_sedan]

I'm not sure about the "leak" you are talking about or why she is getting the cold air like that but but typically this is not a problem for the smells.

When you are using the HVAC system it is always bring air in from outside. Unless you turn the recirc button on and have it close of the fresh air inlet, you may smell outside smells. I always smell people smoking in the car next to me even with my windows up and I can't stand it. Having the dial set to 12 o'clock (floor) and anywhere to the right will always allow fresh air. Any setting to the left of 12 o'clock will allow you to have the air run in recirc mode. Since the the recirc button only works with certain settings, these are only the ones that will cut you off from fresh air and outside smells. The only downside to running in recirc mode is that it can cause defrosting issues during the colder weather months.


What was the HVAC setting on when you were having this problem?

[Aceius]

I'm not sure about the "leak" you are talking about or why she is getting the cold air like that but but typically this is not a problem for the smells.

When you are using the HVAC system it is always bring air in from outside. Unless you turn the recirc button on and have it close of the fresh air inlet, you may smell outside smells. I always smell people smoking in the car next to me even with my windows up and I can't stand it. Having the dial set to 12 o'clock (floor) and anywhere to the right will always allow fresh air. Any setting to the left of 12 o'clock will allow you to have the air run in recirc mode. Since the the recirc button only works with certain settings, these are only the ones that will cut you off from fresh air and outside smells. The only downside to running in recirc mode is that it can cause defrosting issues during the colder weather months.


What was the HVAC setting on when you were having this problem?

I have the auto HVAC controls. It was set for outside air coming in. It's just really weird because this has been happening recently; some of the guys at work are telling me it might be the rubber weather seals that shrunk or something due to the cold weather. It's kinda scarry with smelling exhaust and wiper fluid, kinda bad for your health you know...

Is it possible that something on the driver side door panel or something is letting air in? How is it able to grab the wiper fluid smell? I'm going to mazda for service on the weekend and might bring it up, hopefully they'll have an answer as well.

What do you guys think? Have you smelt exhaust and you're own wiper fluid?