CO smell in cabin when idling

I've been driving my CX-5 Touring about 4.5 months and had not noticed any exhaust odor in the cabin out of the ordinary. But last week I drove 800+ miles helping my son move back to college and my wife rode with me for part of the trip. She complained multiple times about strong exhaust odor, and once I started paying more attention there did seem to be noticeable odor, particularly when idling at a stoplight. At first I told her it was just exhaust from the vehicle in front of us, but I did notice the odor was present on other occasions when there was no vehicle stopped ahead of me. And I noticed it at startup this morning. So I'm definitely going to schedule a service appointment ASAP to get it checked out. But I wanted to hear from others who may have experienced this in case the dealer tries to give me the run around.

Sorry to split hairs, but Carbon Monoxide is odorless. I assume what you're smelling is exhaust gas (?) and THAT's what you should say to the dealer when you drop it off for investigation.

Just for reference I do not have an odor in the cabin. Good luck.

Just dropped my CX-5 off at the dealership to have them check out the exhaust smell in the cabin. I pulled up to the service bay and left the engine running, went in and got the service manager to come out and smell for himself. As soon as he sat in the vehicle he immediately said he smelled the odor. He popped the hood and quickly determined that the oil dipstick had not been seated properly after recent oil change (performed two weeks ago by the same dealership) and oil had leaked onto the engine cover. So they are going to clean up the oil leak and replace the cabin air filter and verify the smell is gone. Keeping my fingers crossed.

Good followup report BobF13, very helpful, thanks.

I had a Ford dealer leave oil filler cap off after oil change on my Mustang GT. Fortunately I checked it before I drove home. Now I always pop the hood after service and look for obvious stuff like that before driving off the dealership lot.

The dealer cleaned up the oil leak and replaced the cabin filter, odor is gone now. The oil change was my first Mazda service visit and needless to say this experience didn't make a good first impression. If they can't install a dipstick correctly, how can I trust them with something more complicated? I had hoped the service manager would offer another free oil change to make up for the inconvenience of having to leave my car for the day but no such luck.

CX-SV said:

Now I always pop the hood after service and look for obvious stuff like that before driving off the dealership lot.

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I guess that will be my routine too. Funny thing is, I've used Express Oil Change for over 25 years to service my other vehicles and never had a single problem with them. I thought I would get higher quality service from the dealer.

I've lowered my expectations a tad and do quick double checks.

Yes the express lube joints have extra checks and balances to keep low wage unskilled workers on track, but I've seen what happens after they strip threads during tranny fluid change. I would not trust them to do much...