Weird exhaust smell after cat back install

[spacemonkeys]

Hello everyone,

I just installed a Neuspeed cat back exhaust on my 2005.5 B7 S4 last night (sounds amazing, btw). After doing a highway run, I stopped at a red light and noticed a strange smell which was not present before the exhaust installation. I had all the windows open at the time.

I parked, got out of the car, and checked to see if anything looked out of place, but it looks fine. I can't see/hear any exhaust leaks, but I will double-check that today. I smelled the exhaust coming out of the mufflers, and it does smell a bit strange. There are no error codes on the dash.

Has anyone experienced this before? Does the exhaust just take awhile to break in or something? My friend mentioned that it kind of smelled like burning oil, but I don't see how a cat back installation would harm the engine like that. Maybe the lubricant we put on the exhaust sleeve to connect the cat back is slowly burning off or something?

Any help is greatly appreciated!

[TConklin821]

Was it welded on? New exhausts can smell funky as can fresh welds.

[spacemonkeys]

Nope, the new exhaust bolted right up. Although I assume the new exhaust had been welded together at some point.

[richmeyer]

its probably all the chemicals/lubricants that they use in the production process burning off. Should go away soon.

[road race s4]

Its fine if its a new exhaust that hasn't been installed before. Sometimes the oil residue on it has to burn off or the packing material inside the muffler getting hot for the first time. I don't think its anything worrying over.

[spacemonkeys]

Thanks for the replies everyone! I'll continue to look for any signs of oil leakage, and hopefully the smell will go away.

[Ricky P]

You forget to put the catalytic converter back on?

[spacemonkeys]

I thought the point of a cat back was that your replacing everything after the converters

[KMAzz]

its normal. give it a few days to burn off everything and you'll be good to go.