Strange smell thru vents

[fricker66]

Alright shoforum members, my wife and I recently completed our 600 mile Christmas tour of the state. On three different occasions/locations we noticed a strong smell coming through the vents. Before you jump and say heater core, the smell was not of antifreeze but distinctly that of rubbing alcohol. Thought I would hop on here and hope someone could point me to the right location on what might have caused this.

As I mentioned above, we were in a different location of the state for each time we notice the smell. The only common issue is that the particular roads we were on were wet from the snow/salt mixture thanks to the DOT. Any chance the compound used for melting the snow/ice could have resulted in an alcohol smell?

Any thoughts or ideas are welcome. I'm a little baffled at this smell. I'm confident it wasn't antifreeze nor did we spill any rubbing alcohol in the car. Each time it quickly came in the cabin and then quickly left. ?????

BTW, hope everyone had a good Holiday season.

 

[BlackOnBlackATX]

ok, so youre saying that you only smelled it when you werein these areas? then it left? did you come back the same way with the same results? do you smell it around your home town? i would say its possible some areas use a mild alcohol solvent to lower the freezing point on the roads, but in all honesty ive never heard of it being done. but if you seriously havent smelt it since then, then maybe you shouldnt bother worrying about it. lets see what some of the others have to say though. merry christmas!

 

[pjtoledo]

Alcohol evaporates so fast I can't see it being used on anything, not to mention how expensive it is. Were you around other cars? Using the windshield washers? Going slow with a tail wind so you could smell your our exhaust? Open a window and check outside? Maybe it was Mr. Claus' alcohol powered sleigh!!!

Perry Toledo,Ohio

 

[fricker66]

Yeah, I'm thinking it must have been some alcohol powered sleigh afterall. I was in different locations within the state and as mentioned, the smell was only noticed three separate times. No idea of wind direction.

The first time I was following a car going 50mph. Decided the fumes must have been from the car in front. Second time, no other cars and probably going about 60. Third time, I had pulled off the interstate for fuel and noticed the smell when I pulled back onto the access road.

Unless this repeats itself again soon, I'll probably forget about it but was just curious what might have been the source of the smell. Thanks to those who have responded!