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Denver has grown from 2 million to 3 million in the past few years. Traffic has become horrible. The proverbial "fresh air" vent on cars is a nice fantasy, but would be more in keeping with people who live out in rural areas and don't have allergies.

So anyway, we're getting sick from Denver traffic, because the "fresh air" vent doesn't quite seal right when closed. It lets some exhaust fumes in, and we're getting sore throats and chronic coughs from it.

Is there any way to get these vents to seal better, when in the Recirc mode?

 
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Do you feel fresh air coming in through the dash vents even with the fan off and recirculate selected?


If you find zero air flow at the dash vents yet you still get the odors inside the car, there's probably not much you can do about that.

You will always have some amount of outside air being pulled in while driving even if the fan is turned off, because there is a body vent in the rear of the car that forces some flow-through ventilation while the car is moving (due to pressure differential). This causes fresh air to be pulled into the cabin from every possible opening on the car other than the HVAC system.

Doesn't Denver have emissions testing? How can there be all these polluter cars on the road? LOL




If there's a stinking car in front of me, I usually fall back a ways so the smell isn't so strong, and/or try to get out from behind it (change lanes). Maybe that's not possible there though.
Some mornings on my way to work I end up following one of those jacked up redneck diesel tinypenistrucks with a 15 inch round exhaust pipe sticking up out of the bed smoking like a coal burning freight train (rolling coal) from every stoplight....I either get in front of this idiot so I can see the road in front of me without a black cloud on it, or I just go slow until he's waaaay in front and the cloud is gone by the time I get there.

 
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I'm not sure, will have to check that, with the fan off.

Pollution testing, yes, but when you have thousands of vehicles in front of you....

 
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Can you isolate and identify any other sources of outside air entry? Holes in the firewall, floor, etc.?


Probably wouldn't matter much, if you are inside the car you will eventually be breathing the air that surrounds the outside of the car.

The design of flow-through ventilation is to avoid the passenger compartment becoming a rolling gas chamber. Fresh outside air, even if it doesn't smell good, still has more oxygen than a completely sealed passenger compartment would eventually have if you sit in there breathing.

 
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It feels like a rolling gas chamber now. I wish I could take the oxygen but reject the exhaust gases.

 
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Is this a new development since the head gasket job was completed?
Does your own car have exhaust leakage in the engine compartment?

 
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No, it's been this way. Being we suffer asthma & allergies, we've always wanted to seal the car better.

 
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Move away from the big city?
Drive with SCUBA gear on?



You'd get some serious stares driving around with that on

 
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You could get a fog machine and put it in the car.... Maybe that can help you figure out where it's getting in that way.

 
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There is one around here that has a arrow pointing to exhaust tip and reads Prius Repellant.

Dipsh!ts

 
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It is an exhaust smell and not fuel correct? I am thinking leaking fuel sender in the back seat area if gas smell...

 
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It's not our car, it's thousands of cars in front of us. I just want to seal the air intake better, so we cut down on that.

 
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The hole isn't hard to get too, just drop down the glove box and pull the filters out and tape it up or something.

 
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Thanks! Just gotta go see how...

Duct tape.
...
Whoa! Look at all those LONG filters!

Gotta figure how to get to that hole, to tape it...

 
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If you pull some trim you can get it from the top

 
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Is it possible to easily reach from the engine compartment on the outside?

 
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Pull the trim between the hood and the window

 
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Don't you think you will need to defog the windows in the future?

 
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We never open the vent for that anyway, because it makes us sicker.

When the windshield defogger comes on in these cars ( vents set to that position ) the AC comes on too, which dries everything. We're in Denver too. Dry. Even when it's raining. ;-)

 
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Some days, if I have recirc on, merely breathing in the car fogs up the windows.

Whatever you wish to attempt, make sure it's easy to undo the blockage if and when it becomes necessary.

 
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Trust me. Been living in Denver since 1979 and have NEVER driven with the vent open. Just turning the defrost settings on, starts the AC and instantly clears the windows. It's a dry climate thing.