I have a first generation (2007?) proton persona that gave me so much headache from the first day.

For the last month or so, the exhaust fumes from my persona smell like petrol. Can anyone enlighten me on this? FC looks normal, can get about 500 km per full tank.


And another thing, why is it so noisy at the back seat after 100 km/h! Must increase voice to speak to the person at the back, kinda headache inducing hum. When tekan clutch the hum will be gone!

Also, my clutch seems a bit heavier compared to when i first got it. If jam can sakit kaki with the clutch, unlike my friends myvi..very soft clutch

All services are done at Proton SC Senawang, no skipping services and never exceeded servicing mileage.

Please! Someone help me!!

What is your persona mileage?

99280 km..just done major service on 95000

changed; air filter, spark plugs, all the oils, fuel filter and lubricated the clutch pedal (got bunyi krek krek)

The humming sound from the back.. only happen after driving > 60km/h? Fuel smell... only when you start up? or after running quite a while you stop down also still be there? Have you change your fuel filter? and check on your exzos see got bocor or not.

the humming is from the engine..over 100 km/h..checked the bearing and they are fine...at >100km/h, when releasing the clutch (RPM = 1k), humming is gone

as mentioned above, fuel filter has been replaced on last service

exzos no bocor, just checked. no weird sounds from the exzos.

fuel smell always, even after long journey, but when start the smell alot stronger. After a while sikit only.

humming sound is from the back, depan ok only. it's always the back passengers who complain saying that it's very noisy.

Humming might be ball bearing worn out at the rear wheels, or brake bengkok. But since you say noise gone once you step clutch, might be something connecting the drive shaft & gear, but can't be since they are at the front. There's nothing at the back... Anyway i don't understand the humming is front or back since you say front then say back. Front might be timing belt, AC, fan, bearings etc just open up your boot and listen.

The fume, do you smell it when car is turned off? If yes probably gas tank small crack when gas escape. If only when engine on maybe you are running rich, maybe o2 sensor broken, maybe some sparkplug broken so it did not ignite during that cycle.

Do you feel any power drop etc when driving?

Send it to service center to check further.

This post has been edited by advocado: Nov 16 2012, 11:27 PM

the sound is like dengung, like a subwoofer at 25 Hz, you can feel the air vibrating, really pening kepala when sit at the back, SC said normal campro sound but i once sat in a persona elegance it was much better. The sound can only be heard at the back btw. if drive rpm under 2k, no hum whatsoever. realli weird.

fume only when engine is started. i think its running rich, how do i check for a faulty o2 sensor. So far no lights on dashboard. All 4 spark plug new, under 4000km, just change at last service.

No power drop while driving, car feels fine.

Which is which?

Base on the description of your passenger I'm pretty sure there is some issue with your wheel bearing. Get it check in the nearest rim/mech/tyre shop. Usually when the humming is too noisy it's most probably because of the worn out bearing and at 9x,xxxk km.. It's most probably be it. Driving at low speed there isn't any loud noise from the back right?

Have you tried different petrol and see? Are they giving you the heavy fume smell? I assume you only go for Esso or Petron?

How can it be from the engine if only Rear passenger can hear??? If from engine might be knocking. Can you feel the vibration sitting infront? Do you hear the sound when car is idle? If you say sound happens when clutch is connected to wheels, might be drive shaft axle, gear but all these are located at the front portion of the car. If rear might be exhaust got holes, but doesn't make sense with the clutch.

It might also be clutch problem since you say it's getting hard & happens when clutch is engaged (connected), read this:
http://www.rangeracceleration.com/Clutch_Care.html

O2 sensor cannot check urself. Maybe SC can check by using computer tapping to ECU, if not have to take out and i dunno how they gonna check. Most likely they will just replace it and see got problem or not, at your cost lo. If not might be ECU problem or injector problem.

Your problem can be minor or major, do they occur the same time or 1 after next? This can help tell you whether the 2 problems are related.

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Added on November 16, 2012, 11:53 pmI initially though it was bearing, but bearing sound is like wooo, woooo, woooo, TS is like degung degung like something banging hard.

This post has been edited by advocado: Nov 16 2012, 11:53 PM

Could be the tyre as well. Uneven tyre surface could make farny ound at high speed also.

degung degung conform not tyre problem. something is banging since it dissappears when clutch is pressed.

can also be suspension broke so something is hitting but cannot be if like that TS won't still be driving the car.

since he say clutch press no more sound we focus on the connected parts.

either that or engine knock, or outlet valve problem causing fuel to leak to exhaust.

TS never tell us whether the car suffer any power drop or not, just tell us mileage ok.

This post has been edited by advocado: Nov 17 2012, 12:05 AM

its not the bearings, it a long relentless woooooooo~~ the sound is never ending.

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Added on November 17, 2012, 12:05 amI use Petronas and Esso and sometimes Shell. I will try and check the bearings tomorrow.

BTW, the sound at the back gets worst if you use gear 5 uphill (straining the engine), the sound gets VERY loud that way.

I'm sorry if i'm confusing you because i'm also very confused.

This post has been edited by axsatr: Nov 17 2012, 12:05 AM

If it's a Wooo it's the bearing la, i've sat in a taxi the driver told me it's the bearing.

Yup, no sound when clutch is pressed. I already said in my previous post, no power drop whatsoever

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Added on November 17, 2012, 12:08 amwill go and inspect the bearings tomorrow

This post has been edited by axsatr: Nov 17 2012, 12:08 AM

Using gear 5 is not straining the engine, using gear 1 is. The bearing wooo usually happens after certain speed.

Your description doesn't tally, as you can't get high speed uphill with 5th gear.

If you can't hear it at the front but people can at the rear, no way it's coming from the front right? Unless you continuously fart.

i will look into this as well

Then i dunno why got fuel smell. Usually if running rich or poor, you will suffer power drop due to imbalance mixture. Maybe u exaggerated the fuel smell strength and it's only slightly rich?

how do i explain this,

it's like when we going uphill slowly but use gear 5 at about 60 km/h or so, the sound is very loud at the back. The sound is barely audible at the front but it's horrid at the back. I have no idea why

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Added on November 17, 2012, 12:13 amim not kidding you, when i start my car with the door opened, could seriously smell the petrol, very strong smell all around my car

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Added on November 17, 2012, 12:16 amThis car have gave me so many problems:

Broken fuel filler cap
Broken 2 door handles
Broken dynamo
Broken starter motor
Power window failure for more than 3 times
Front suspension holder for both left and right broken
Broken fuel pump
Random interior vibrations

Usually just driver 90-100 on hiway only.

Such a problematic car

This post has been edited by axsatr: Nov 17 2012, 12:16 AM

at 5th gear the engine load on the wheels are very minor compared to lower gears, most likely your rpm will be also low, so maybe the wheel is not being driven enough by the engine which causes more friction by broken/badly installed bearings? I assume you 5th gear 60km/h for a steady stretch and at 4th gear same speed uphill less noticeable. But in order to maintain same speed on higher gear you have to tekan minyak more. Have to rule out sound coming from front anyway.

You sure fuel smell come from exhaust not other parts of car like fuel tank? Like i said might be fuel tank top cracked so gas escaped, or engine outlet valve is passing fuel before they got fully ignited but then you'd hear banging noise & loose power. No fuel leak?

I'll check the bearing tomorrow then, anyway, how long are bearings supposed to last before changing? My SC said that there is nothing wrong with my bearing at my last service. He took it for a test drive and said everything is normal.

Tomorrow i'll sniff around the car and find the source of the smell, will keep you posted! Thank you

bearing usually last quite long, but maybe faulty bearing or wrongly installed.

this should really be expected, as it a proton

From what TS said.. Doesn't sound like wheels bearing problem at all...

but what could it be the proton SC is really unhelpful

I'm not sure, sounds something not so right with the engine (noise gone after rpm gone down, noise up when engine under load like high gear at slope). Surely exhaust will sound noisier during high rpm.
Hopefully the timing belt is changed, and double check if the timing belt has the correct gear position, lousy guy might has it miss by 1 gear step.

axsatr,

Your vibration @ 100km/h is caused by a missing drive shaft damper, which was not installed in certain units of the first batch 2007, non-iafm model. This is caused by different suppliers for the drive shafts; some had the damper installed and some not. You can find very good posts in motortrader forum, search for "persona drive shaft damper". This problem has been solved in later batches afaik. The symptom is pronounced pedal foot vibration at 100km/h only; more than or less than the speed you don't get the vibration.

I see the car is getting old; it's a good car while it's new but after you have done some mileage on it you can see how badly it's made. Changed mine - you should cut your loss while still can.

can proton SC check for this missing damper or can i do it myself? how can they have not made a recall!!

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Added on November 17, 2012, 3:22 pmchecked my car! no damper installed! proton QC really suck! after 5 years of servicing they didn't even bother to check!

This post has been edited by axsatr: Nov 17 2012, 03:22 PM

So tell us when you solve the problem. Fuel smell still there eh? But drive shaft is at the front right? TS say sound from back.

yep..fuel smell still there

the damper is missing but it may not be the cause of the sound

going to make a huge list and flame SC, 800 km to next service

Bro sc so unreliable try find other?

When to a workshop today, front bearings is rosak. And apparently the fuel smell is only when cold starting the car, my bad as i thought it was always smelling like fuel.

Other than that, also went to a tyre shop today to fix a small puncture and the tyre guy said that my goodyear tyres are very noisy compared to the continental tyres that were originally supplied by proton. maybe this caused the noise at the back

Have you checked the rear bearings? Coz i doubt the sound comes from front.

Tyre even noisy won't give the kind of sound you described. How's the sound now?

Even cold start should not smell like fuel.

Haven't replaced the bearings yet. The mechanic said it is still ok, just a bit noisy. The back bearings are fine

Fuel smell i will consult proton on the next appointment

Sound still the same btw

Then i guess we can't help much. Have you installed the dampers?

no, not yet, will tell SC about the dampers on next service as well

Thank you very much for the help

persona drive shaft problem,
how to know the symptom?
my steering and front Tyre(right) start vibrate after masuk lubang.
do alignment and balancing, change a tyre and new rim.
but still i can feel a vibration.
any suggestion?

This post has been edited by aziz79: Dec 13 2013, 07:45 PM