Hacker News Reader

Comment by gugagore | Hacker News Reader

Some people really like the smell of gasoline or jet fuel or rubbing alcohol, or acetone, which is the order in which I would rank how much I like them from mind-boggling to okay-that-smell-is-kind-of-nice.

View on HN

I feel like i have a normal palette and preferences for smells, but for some reason diesel exhaust (like from a school bus) has always been in my top 5. Makes me wonder how common this kind of thing is and how much random variation there is among people.

I've heard that certain mineral deficiencies in an extended family member of mine caused them to love the smell of gasoline, and to crave and eat dirt.

School bus diesel is associative for me; it makes me think of field trips and band stuff. I can see how "new car smell" would be associative for getting a new car, regardless of the appeal of the smell itself

+1 for diesel exhaust. It gives me weird flashbacks of being on like a Greyhound bus or Amtrak train when I was little and with my family which are somehow comforting.

I bet a lot of people worked on cars with family and have a similar association.

Fascinating. Of all the 'sharp' smells in my environments over the years, diesel exhaust has always been one of the absolute harshest to me. Feels like it's actively damaging my lungs perceptibly in real time. It's the primary reason I keep my car's climate control on internal circulation almost constantly. I flinch whenever I detect the slightest trace.

Maybe I got exposed to a little too much of it as a kid.

I have that reaction to the exhaust that airplanes introduce to the cabin when reversing out of the gate before takeoff. It boggles my mind why all outside air isn't shut off when reversing. I get an instant headache and have difficulty breathing, and I'm generally not sensitive to much of anything.

Yuck, I hate diesel exhaust but that slight unburnt fuel smell from a 2 stroke small engine is what I'm all about.

2-stroke exhaust and new tires... Maybe it's the association with memorable activities like visiting a motorcycle dealership with my dad as a kid, or a mowed lawn and warm summer rain? Meanwhile diesel exhaust makes me think of those cold, cold winter days, waiting for the car to warm up on an ice-cold vinyl seat...

I hate diesel exhaust. New car smell makes me want to puke (and did, on numerous occasions, as a kid) so bad that I have to take breaks and open windows. The absolute worst is burnt heavy fuel like mazut, and other two-stroke engines that burn oil. It smells like cigarettes to me, but worse.

On the other hand, gasoline is kind of nice to smell. Go figure, chemicals react weirdly with our sense of smell, I don't think it's wise to rely on it for synthetic compounds (cue bitter almond smell).

Edit: And it is commonly accepted that odors are wired to memories, so living on a boat when I was young and having family members that smoke are probably linked to these sensations.

I thought it was the smoother ride on newer cars (or when I was really little associated it with green cars), but probably was the smell all along.

Same! From the other comments it appears "not very common". Or maybe just selection bias! I find it interesting noticing the different kinds of "diesel smells" - new cars vs. older, tractors, semis, etc. For the record I also enjoy the kerosene-type fuel smell of jet engines.

I absolutely loved the smell of my RX-8’s rotary engine dumping fuel into the catalytic converter on a cold day to warm it up faster. It also burned a bit of oil while running.

I don't like the exhaust but I like the smell of unburnt gasoline. Certainly not good for you and I have been lucky enough not to smell it frequently for years now.

I am definitely an aficionado of distilled petroleum products although I wouldn't recommend sniffing gasoline.

My favorite speculation along those lines is that people are addicted to motorcycling because they are addicted to gas fumes/exhaust (and I'm riding myself).

If you grew up in the first half of the last century, chances are you'd recognise the smell of chlorinated solvents --- and they're even described as "sweet" by a lot of people. Due to their widespread use, many associated it with the smell of "clean". Unfortunately, they're also most if not all carcinogenic.

I like gasoline but weirdly avgas is gross for me.

Burned two stroke oil!

I'm a glow fuel degustateur myself! 85/15 methanol to nitromethane is the sweet spot for the RC planes I fly

Memories of my Vespa in the 80s!

Makes you think two strokes are long obsolete, but I actually ride a two-stroke in the year 2021. An enduro bike - KTM 300 XCW 2017 model. Occasionally with proper blue smoke coming out when giving it proper gas!

Ah is that what it is about avgas I don’t like? More burned oil?

It's amazing that they still allow lead in that.

It’s actually required to have lead. It’s hilariously called “low lead”.

The LL avgas situation is odd because while we have quite a number of additives to reduce knocking (ugh MTBE) valve erosion has been one of the listed reasons for not using it.

Yet, most aircraft engines have strict servicing guidelines and mandating replacement valves/seats with a more resistant design could have been done 40 years ago as part of engine overhaul/rebuild guidelines. Then the usage would have slowly declined. Yes its expensive, but so is GA aircraft maintenance.

*MTBE was another of those chemicals where the replacement was quite likely just as bad if not worse than the original. Similar to the refrigerant bans where we went from a chemical that broke down in the atmosphere fairly quickly (and caused ozone holes doing it) to one that lingers basically for eternity and causes global warming.

AFAIK that's only for general aviation (aka. people flying their cessnas), rather than jetliners.

I did as a kid but it went away after a few years

part of owning a busso engined alfa romeo is the 'alfa smell' - the blowback of gasoline in the cabin from an 80s' design engine brought into the two thousands kicking and screaming

and I love it

Reply on news.ycombinator.com