heater question

[s56]

When I use the heater, there is a pretty bad exhaust smell that gets picked up and blown into the car...but only at idle. My guess is that the heater is heating outside air. Is there a damper or something anywhere that SHOULD be closing when the heater is engaged, but isn't, or is this a "that's the way it is" kinda thing?

Thanks!

Stephen.

[2-77s, 1-85, 2-86 TCs]

Are you sure it's exhaust? Sometimes if your heater core is leaking, it'll smell like exhaust. One way ot tell is if your windows are fogging up, it's normally your heater core. If it isn't the heater core, I'm thinking it might be a bad donut gasket or exhaust manifold gasket. Or even maybe a hole in the exhaust in front of the firewall somewhere. Don't take any of them as gospel, I'm just trying to give you ideas. Good luck.

[s56]

Actually, it's a new core, and it's not an exhaust leak. The exhaust of the car in general is pretty noticeable- no emmissions reduction apparatus, likes to run rich, etc, and it just flows forward if the wind blows right. Additionally, stopped in traffic I'm certainly picking up exhaust from the guy in front of me.

The raw air intake is immediately at the grill, and I was just wondering if there's some damper in there somewhere. I'd have to do some serious demolition to trace it down, so I figured I'd ask first.