997 Interior Smell

[Tom M]

Question for all you 997 owners out there. When I get into my 997 after it’s been sitting for a few days there is this strange smell in the interior. Very hard to describe but it smells a bit “fumey” or like a bit of glue smell. The car has no leaks, there is no smell from the engine or on the outside and there is no smell at all when I drive. I’ve also had my car serviced / checked recently and no issues with leaks or fumes. So pretty confident it’s not coming from engine fumes but instead from the interiors. 
 
Could it be the leather getting old? Maybe some glue used on the interior? I have recently had this foam stuff in my aircon vents disintegrate with age and come out so maybe it’s related to that? Anyone had a similar experience? Seems to have gotten worse over the years (have had the car for a good 7 or 8 years).

Any thoughts would be appreciated. 

[Yeatesy]

52 minutes ago, Tom M said:

Question for all you 997 owners out there. When I get into my 997 after it’s been sitting for a few days there is this strange smell in the interior. Very hard to describe but it smells a bit “fumey” or like a bit of glue smell. The car has no leaks, there is no smell from the engine or on the outside and there is no smell at all when I drive. I’ve also had my car serviced / checked recently and no issues with leaks or fumes. So pretty confident it’s not coming from engine fumes but instead from the interiors. 
 
Could it be the leather getting old? Maybe some glue used on the interior? I have recently had this foam stuff in my aircon vents disintegrate with age and come out so maybe it’s related to that? Anyone had a similar experience? Seems to have gotten worse over the years (have had the car for a good 7 or 8 years).

Any thoughts would be appreciated. 

The foam in the vents is common for the 997/987 generation cars but I don’t think that would be the cause of the smell. Is the car stored inside or outside?

[Tom M]

9 minutes ago, Yeatesy said:

The foam in the vents is common for the 997/987 generation cars but I don’t think that would be the cause of the smell. Is the car stored inside or outside?

Always garaged. It’s in very good condition for its age. 

[sjm]

Had the same smell on my 2006 9974S. 
I found some factory sound deadening behind the rear side/door panels, on the rear wheel arches, were the culprit. 
 

Ended up removing the seats and carpet to apply Dynamat to the interior. When in there, if I remember right, there was some old stuff on the transmission tunnel as well. 
 

Pretty unpleasant smell especially after the car was left in the sun for any length of time. 

[Tom M]

2 hours ago, sjm said:

Had the same smell on my 2006 9974S. 
I found some factory sound deadening behind the rear side/door panels, on the rear wheel arches, were the culprit. 
 

Ended up removing the seats and carpet to apply Dynamat to the interior. When in there, if I remember right, there was some old stuff on the transmission tunnel as well. 
 

Pretty unpleasant smell especially after the car was left in the sun for any length of time. 

Oh wow thanks. So where exactly did you find the  material, in the doors, behind rear seats or everywhere? Must have been quite a job to pull out all the interiors. Any photos?

[sjm]

No pictures sorry, yes it's an involved job to expose the trans tunnel and find the old sound deadening although I would do the rear wheel arches in the interior first, which need the side panels (under the rear side windows) and the rear seats removed.

The glue is what you can smell, removing these rear ones improved my car quite a bit as there seems to be airflow from that area.

Fairly basic tools are needed but some fasteners are Torx head bolts. 

Had a look online but couldn't find any diagrams or pictures of the offending deadener.