Why does my motor oil smell like rotten eggs or gas?
Opening a fresh container can release an overpowering rotten egg smell, with the oil appearing cloudier than its expected light brown shade. Other times, the oil smells strongly of gasoline and its level registers very high on the dipstick. While some drivers simply complete an oil change and find things seem fine, these intense odors make it difficult to evaluate the oil's condition.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
Found another way around this?
Share your steps and trade-offs so fellow engineers don't have to reinvent the wheel. No account required.
Why does my motor oil smell like rotten eggs or gas?
- 1Saving the suspect motor oil for emergencies onlyDid this help you?
- 2Buying alternative brand full synthetic motor oil onlineDid this help you?
- 3Change the engine oil more frequently.Did this help you?
- 4Drive for at least 30 minutes at a time to allow the engine to get hot enough to evaporate the unburnt fuel.Did this help you?
- 5Get an oil analysis to measure the exact percentage of fuel dilution.Did this help you?
- 6Check and replace faulty fuel injectors or the high pressure fuel pump.Did this help you?
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“the oil smells strongly of gasoline and its level on the dipstick is very high, I think somewhere around 2-3 cm.”source ↗
“My audi also had oil that smelled a little bit like gas. I did an oil change and things seem fine.”source ↗
“as soon as I cracked it I was overpowered by a rotten egg smell. The oil itself looks the correct light brown shade but a still bit cloudier than I’d expect.”source ↗
“My Subaru oil always smells a bit like gas.”source ↗
Where this came up
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