My wife claims the same. I never noticed anything. She has at least 5 air fresheners in her car. Mine has a slight exhaust leak that makes her sick when the roof is open. My dad's leaks a tiny bit of antifreeze from the heater core. That makes her sick. I don't know what it is about her car that she smells. There's nothing wrong with hers that I've found so I'm stumped.
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12:15 AM
jscott1 Member
Posts: 21676 From: Houston, TX , USA Registered: Dec 2001
The Fiero smell is awful. It is caused by the rotting cheap azz glue they used for the interior that has failed on 99.999% of all Fieros. Which is why the dash and console is pulling apart on 99.999% of all Fieros on the road. The only way to get rid of the smell is to replace your dash, console and door panels with stuff custom stuff or stuff from another car.
My GT lost the Fiero smell when I replaced the interior with all new stuff...of course now I have the formaldehyde smell...but the Fiero smell is gone.
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12:32 AM
katatak Member
Posts: 7136 From: Omaha, NE USA Registered: Apr 2008
My wife said the only time my fiero smelled good was after the leaves in the heater box cought on fire. I saved the car. now if I could just find some smell that would keep her out if it. ( that i can't smell )
I'm sure that we could all agree that Fieros smell like one of the following, if not a combination: 1. burning oil 2. coolant 3. moldy interior 4. brake fluid 5. strong exhaust fumes 6. melting wires 7. fire 8. fail 9. win
It's funny you say that as I noticed a unique smell that reminded me of my past Fieros (I hadn't had one for a couple years till my latest that I got in January of this year).
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1995 Pontiac Firebird - 3.4 V6 5-Speed (Engine outta commission awaiting V8/6-Speed swap someday), 93-97 to 98-02 Trans Am body conversion My Firebird's Cardomain Page 1988 Pontiac Fiero - 2.5 I4 5-Speed My Fiero's Cardomain Page
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12:58 AM
madcurl Member
Posts: 21401 From: In a Van down by the Kern River Registered: Jul 2003
All three Fieros I own smell different. #011 smells like Mr. Mike's leather (which is the coolest out of the three); #015 smells like vinyl (due to the material used), and #020 smell like Corvette (due to the seats).
I have owned a 2 84's, 85Gt, 3 86'se's,1 88 coupe, and they all had that smell, even the 88 which was like brand new when I got it, only 60,000 miles, I have often wonderd what it was, and determind the one thing all my cars had in common was the same material on the seats, as I understand they no longer manufacture that stuff, wonder why?
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07:11 PM
faaaaq Member
Posts: 3856 From: Madison WI, USA Registered: Sep 2009
Mine smells like the 80s. I LLLOOOOVVVEEEE IIITTTTTTT!!!!!!!
Yea, 80's emissions regulations
Ok, I'm a bit of a hypocrite. My Fiero has been on jack stands for a year and I only remember going inside it once in the last six months. Plus, I don't remember the smell, but I imagine it has something to do with a leaky sunroof and mildew.
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09:01 PM
pete 2m4 Member
Posts: 867 From: allentown pa. Registered: May 2009
Got rid of the "Fiero Smell" in mine when I rebuilt the entire car.
Replaced the headliner material and "glassed" the board: (discovered mold and smelly crumbling fiberglass under the rotting fabric)
Installed Mr. Mikes leather seats: (after steam cleaning the old foam underneath)
Installed new carpeting: (over the top of the old carpeting, *after* steam cleaning it and covering it in with baking soda for 2 days and vacuuming it all out)
Installed new door panel carpeting: (after removing the old stuff with brake cleaner, letting it all evaporate in the sun and liberally "glassing" a lot of the "cardboard")
Recovered the interior firewall panel with vinyl from Mr. Mike: (after a similar treatment that was done on the door panels)
Scrubbed EVERY plastic and vinyl part that was reused in the interior at least 2 times with soap and water, including the A & B pillar trim pieces, threshold trim, etc., (lots of "mung" on the backsides of those parts)
Disassembled and cleaned the HVAC ducts and the evaporator / heater core box.
Replaced the mold and mildew infested sun visors with Mr. Mikes leather ones.
Throughly cleaned and repainted the inside steel structures of both doors. Removed all the old grease from the window tracks and lock mechanism, (before painting), and applied new white lithium grease).
Replaced the rotting OEM steering wheel, (the outside leather looked good , but the thing stunk like hell..suspect it was whatever was inside it, plus old sweat and body oils from previous owner(s) saturated in the leather
Cleaned everything under the dash once I had it removed the first time, and sprayed Ozium odor eliminator into the insulation on the front bulkhead under the dash
Cleaned and scrubbed the entire length of the steel structure under the center console, (full of "mystery debris", dust, old coins, petrified food particles, etc.)
Replaced the ashtrays with new repro ones from Fiero Store
My car simply smells like new leather now, (from the Mr. Mikes seats).
The interior of mine has the faint smell of antifreeze, recently replaced the heater core, mixed with somewhere around 100 different cardboard air fresheners used over the last 22 years...
The exterior smells like a Briggs&Stratton... need to do a tuneup
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01:11 PM
30+mpg Member
Posts: 4049 From: Russellville, AR Registered: Feb 2002
Dakota Fiero:I have owned a 2 84's, 85Gt, 3 86'se's,1 88 coupe, and they all had that smell, even the 88 which was like brand new when I got it, only 60,000 miles, I have often wonderd what it was, and determind the one thing all my cars had in common was the same material on the seats, as I understand they no longer manufacture that stuff, wonder why?
If the fabric smells, check this out:
The darker areas on the panels' backsides are sweat stains from previous drivers.
The interior of mine has the faint smell of antifreeze, recently replaced the heater core, mixed with somewhere around 100 different cardboard air fresheners used over the last 22 years...
The exterior smells like a Briggs&Stratton... need to do a tuneup
It is a Briggs
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03:36 PM
30+mpg Member
Posts: 4049 From: Russellville, AR Registered: Feb 2002