United we smell.

I have an older Jetta - same smell....car's way out of warranty but runs smooth - when I bought the car, I assumed it was the leather...or a deoderizor....mine is not too bad...but it still bothers me. Everything else with the car is mint - with these gas prices...getting 800-1000kms a tank is just amazing.

I went into the dealership and inquired...more for a joke...as I already heard what their response was going to be from many others on-line.

Sure enough...."nope, we've never heard of that before??? Crayons?...huh...nope" There was even a mechanic at the front desk and I asked him too....(although the service guy wasn't happy)..same response...When I told them that this was all over the internet..they told me not to beleive everything that I read on the internet.

I even advised them that there were others who had the necessary repairs done to their vehicles at a VW dealership......so that they didn't smell...and this was something that I was willing to pay for...but they still played dumb.

I have researched this a lot and found out the following.

1. The smell (some say)is a result of an anti-rust proofing agent that is applied to the car and is (on some vehicles) oversprayed under the dash and under the interior carpet. It is also common on BMWs and other vehicles shipped over seas (protection from salt water?)
2. The chemical starts with a C...like camoline or something...I can't recall exactly what it is..but did find some solvents online to remove it (once you get to it).
3. VW apparently issued a TSB on it...but it seems that no one online can find it - I think TSBs are for specific vehicles so who knows which one the smell TSB was issued under....Beetle, Jetta, VR6, Passat...they all suffer.
4. No one knows if the smell is bad for you or not and the potency varies from vehicle to vehicle.
5. I have found two people online who stated that this problem was corrected by VW for a cost of $600 and the other was charged $5k! Problem is..the people who had the problem corrected are not on the forums any longer...as they don't have the issue any longer...and there was no e-mail address...so I can't ask them what dealership did the work etc. as I would walk into my local dealership and smack them in the head with it!
6. The problem apparently lies under the dash and under the carpet...which means removing the seats etc...and removing the dash and cleaning out this stuff.

I love the car...so I am going to talk to a friend at a body shop and ask him how much it would cost to have him do all this work...I would attempt to do this myself..but I might do more harm then good.......then If it works...I'm going to tell him that he just tapped himself into a gold mine - I would easily pay $500-$1000 to get this cleaned up.

I don't think I have a leg to stand on with VW as my car was purchased privately - but all of you with warranties and new cars...man I would be going nuts.....I'm talking BIG NEON PAPER SIGNs stating your problems and parking it right out front of the VW Dealership....they will solve this for you soon if you start doing this....how many new customers do you think they'll get if you're sitting there (or your car) with bad things written all over it....just put up this forums web site address - THEY CAN READ FOR THEMSELVES!!!

Good luck.
E-mail me directly if you have any luck - I am still researching and checking into many forums. carrie.smith19@yahoo.ca

Hope this helps...

 

Hi I have a 2003 Beetle that i recently bought. It took me about a week to figure out the smell i was smelling was crayons! now im constantly made fun of because of it! I've read somewhere that the reason is because VW (who recently admitted to this) has stated that the crayola smell was from the asphaltic sound deadening material that they sprayed on the floor. It did not cure properly and smelled during hot weather...awesome. I live in the Alabama heat and humidity so of course my electric blue bug looks and smells like something that came out of a crayola box. I've got two different types of air fresheners in there but it just kinda blends in with the smell. I read somewhere else that someone put a car freshener bomb and that seemed to help. I have no idea what to do and i would prefer not to smell like a crayon since this smell ends up sticking to me once i get of the car. if anyone has any suggestions that would be great!
and don't worry you're not alone if you have a crayon smelling car. apparently there's a whole world of people who own crayon cars...and lots of other forums for them too!