Cleanmaxx Brian

I found the source of this smell. It is actually coming from the exhaust! On a cold morning start your truck and then go outside. Lie down order the truck on the passanger side and look at your muffler. You will see a small drain hole (for condensation I believe) at the button of the muffler pointing towards the front. You will see "smoke" coming out of it like your tail pipe...just a smaller amount. Smell it...that's it! It will go away once the truck has warmed up. This small amount of smoke is getting drawn into the hvac system.

Sealing the hole is not a good idea. It is there for a reason. I just wished they drilled it on the backside!

Lewis289

I had this issue, turns out rear (right i think) turbo oil line was leaking on the manifold, as oil drained out of the turbo over night.

Edit ::

I have an Ecoboost . . . thought that would be important lol

dan222

I just started getting the strange smell too, ever since my oil change a couple weeks ago.
Now have 33000 miles and never had an issue. Happens every time I put the HVAC on, either in heater mode or AC mode. Then about 20 minutes later it will stop. Doesn't matter if it is first thing in the morning or if been driving for a long while.

mrpositraction

I have 13,000 mile


LOL, BAND AIDS! That is EXACTLY what it smells like. I was asking my wife what it smelled like and neither of us could think of something to explain it.

pokernut64

Mine started about a month ago but dismissed it because it rarely happened...Since last week it's every time I start the truck with the HVAC fan on.

forayzor

Just started smelling it the past couple weeks I my 2012. It smelled almost like burning wires, and now that you guys mentioned bandaids it smells exactly like them haha. I'm a Ford tech and have no idea what it is, haven't investigated it much.

pokernut64

Many of us owners are just now noticing this roughly after a year of ownership. I'm curious why if it's the exhaust, why now and not in the beginning?

itasor

You guys are 100% right with the smell identification of "band aids". I knew it smelled like something familiar, but couldn't think of it.

I had my dealer look at my truck...they said it seems like the HVAC was sucking in a smell of oil sitting under a hot pipe. Oil was sitting there from the last oil change (since it drains weird and gets all over the place). They cleaned up really well, but it did NOT help the issue at all. Still smells exactly the same, so clearly that wasn't the issue.

I smelled the heat vents on my friend's 2013 F-150 with 16k miles and it smells EXACTLY the same as mine.

It will be really interesting to finally figure out what this is and what triggers it around the 1 year/12-15k mile mark.

LRPV

I was about 3000 miles past my last oil change when the smell started. I keep band aids in the glove box so that was the first thing I checked but they were just fine. It will be interesting to see what it is.

blu13fx4

Mine doesn't go away when warmed up. Since tonight was pretty warm, I didnt need heater, but on my way home from work. I figured I turn on heater and see if it smelt even when warmed up, and sure anough as soon as heater was turned on, there was the smell. it has to be something with the heater. Try it, dont turn on heater and drive your truck for a while. I guarantee after a while if you turn on heater, you will get hit with the smell.