I had to park my car in the hot sun on vacation the last two days and when I first crank it up with the AC on I get a familiar burnt wire smell but a little different. It goes away after about 3 minutes.
View 11 RepliesI'm possibly being paranoid, but twice, after hard driving, my Prius has smelt strongly of burnt plastic/rubber.
View 19 RepliesSo just like the title says I am experiencing a sort of burnt rubber or plastic type smell when at a stop. I feel like it would smell like a belt slipping but I have never had that issue on this car or the last one so I have no experience in pin pointing the smell. I have no noticeable changes to the power of the engine or the brakes from what I can tell.
View 6 RepliesI have an 01 GTI GLX with climatronic, and I've noticed this hot plastic or hot wire smell in the vents. Yes the fan wire gets hot when the car is hot and AC is on. But I don't think that's it. I've torn the passenger side apart, took the blower motor out, not it. The vent / recirculate motor is external to the vents, the only other place is behind the radio for the other one. What else is internal, if anything, that could be causing this smell? I'm concerned that something will melt or burn up.
I've been wondering if the ecm in the cowl would be getting hot but I can't smell anything with the plastics on. I would say it does seem to occur after driving for about ten minutes in town. But it also seems like it's there when I first start it up also.
2001 Prius (242,044 miles) with transaxle error code! Red triangle with exclamation mark, check engine light, PS error, Main battery error, and little red car with exclamation mark error. One week ago car gave random misfire codes with a burnt smell... could have been from my car or could have been a smell from the car next to me. Cleared codes and they never came back. This week I get the CODE OF TRANSMISSION DEATH the dreaded P3120 along with a 5 minute wait by the side of the road until I could restart it and drive the 5 miles back to the house. Cleared the code but it came back the next day with another total loss of power and another 5 minute wait on the side of the road.
After I turn off the car and wait a few minutes it will usually start back up and I can continue on my way... sometimes for a few miles and sometimes for 10 miles. My question is this... could this problem be something other than a bad transmission (transaxle) or should I be looking for a used transmission on ebay? I have also heard that it is possible that the MG2 might be bad and that it can be swapped out without pulling the motor so how can I test and confirm my real problem. I plan to repair myself one way or another... Other than all these warning codes and exclamation mark warnings symbols she drives great until she stops producing power and coasts to a total stop.
I have a 2004 prius with about 350k miles on it, bought it about a year ago and we have had our first trouble with it (it's been great so far, and when you consider it's mileage, pretty impressive).
We were driving along and a constant alarm started (beeeeep!!!) and lights on the dash lit up. I assumed it was cranky because the rear hatch wasn't closed or something and kept driving (we didn't have far to go). It wasn't long before smoke with a distinctive burnt electronics smell started coming up from the dash at the front left lower corner of the windshield. Then the brakes started to feel very unresponsive and sluggish (no regenerative braking either). She still runs and drives. So here is where I am now:
The car screams constantly and the brake light, ABS light and the (!) light are all lit.
I've been poking about and figured out that my inverter coolant pump isn't working properly. At this point I am wondering if this is just pure coincidence though (i.e. perhaps its not been working for awhile). I will be replacing this soon.
I checked the error codes and they all seemed to be un-related and or old (catalytic converter not working properly, ran out of fuel, etc). I cleared them and no new ones are populating. (car has only been driven around the block 3 times though)
The 12 V battery seems to be working fine, and it's getting the proper charging voltage. (voltage tested through the console under various conditions)
I have reset the braking system (bridging the #4 and #13 pins thing) and this turned the buzzer and lights off for about 20 seconds. Still no proper brakes. And of course the noise and lights just come back. Still no error codes via my Bluetooth reader and smartphone.
I have my doubts that replacing the inverter pump will fix this brake issue. I am familiar with working on cars, but this is my first foray with 1) a modern car and 2) a Prius. (Previous cars are all mid 90s or older, so I'm a little bit overwhelmed here...)
My umbrella and few other items stowed in prius for some months now has a strong plastic/rubbery prius smell. How do I stop/reduce the smell at the source? There seems to be some discussion on its origin but no mention on how to reduce this.
View 8 RepliesWent down to the store and when I parked my car in the garage all I could smell is burnt clutch and its snowing and not like I could even beat on it. Car is stock besides a cat back .. Car has 11k on it ..
View 1 RepliesI have a 07 passat 2.0 wolfgang Ed. Recently the MIL light came on, engine fan is loud and shaking and a strong odor of burnt rubber coming from the passenger side of the engine, it's still under warranty can't get in with dealership for two weeks.
View 6 RepliesI have a 2011 BMW 328i and I get this sort of burnt chemical smell through the vents when the heat is on. It doesn't happen until I have been driving for 10-15 minutes. After that you get the smell on some low level all the time, but it seems to be briefly exacerbated by making a hard turn (i.e. a U-turn). You get a stronger whiff coming out of the turn and then it returns to baseline. I also smell it stronger when setting off in low gear (1st or 2nd) like from a stop sign. It happens whether the car has the air re-circulation on or not. It has been in for service twice and they can't find the problem. The car is a RWD manual transmission and only has 20k miles on it. I checked the fluid levels and as far as I can tell they don't seem low. I looked in the service history and a coolant leak was fixed at one point, near the thermostat - yet the car still exhibits the smell. In addition to the smell, it kind of irritates the back of my throat after a while.
View 12 RepliesI have had my car since it rolled out of the plant. Along with other issues one of the most bothersome is a strange smell when I accelerate above 60 mph and it gets worse between 70 and 80mph. Additionally, when I pull into my garage after having smelled this smell on the freeway, I can smell it on the outside of my car.
My car has been in and out of the Ford dealership every month for many issues but this particular issue each time I bring it in. It wasn't until my most recent visit that they told me that with new cars one can occasionally smell this when undertaking a hard acceleration. Then I was asked if I have visited websites or asked questions on the web about this smell. But until now I didn't know what the smell was.
I have been on websites that say this is normal for new cars but if the smell gets worse over time there is a problem with the carburetor. I need to know exactly what to tell the Ford dealership when I go in again have them fix this problem. I also would like to know if this smell I smell is harmful to my children and I. And is it leaking the smell all the time but it is just over a certain MPH that I can smell it.
2002 Lexus ES300 202k ... What causes a temporary burnt oil or rubber smell when I brake hard, lasts only about 1-2 minutes ...
View 2 RepliesIt's a 96 Honda Accord Ex. Yesterday afternoon, all of a sudden white smoke started coming out from the right side of the front of my car. I immediately pulled over and when I did, I could smell nothing but burnt or burning rubber! My car was overheating for some reason too, so I let it cool down for about an hour before inspecting anything. I drove into a residential neighborhood: in the process, my car was jerking forward, as if the engine was forcing itself to stay on, but not having the power.
When I finally was able to look under the hood, I saw that the hose that sucked coolant/anti-freeze out of the reserve to the side had melted off somehow, and my radiator wasn't able to pull anti-freeze out of the reserve. So I noted that I needed to replace that hose immediately. By this time, everything was closed in town, so I'm able to drive it home and let it sit overnight, to completely cool down. I added some coolant directly into the radiator this morning, in hopes that it would make it a little better. I started my car shortly after, and it did. But it has the same jerky motion when driving, as if it's about to cut off on me again.
I have a 1985 Silverado where a mouse must have chewed through the main electrical wire that goes from the battery to the starter. Without knowing this, I tried to start the truck, it turned over a couple times, then a burnt electrical smell and smoke was coming from under the hood.
I replaced the wire and the starter. Now I have all electronics restored but when I turn the key, nothing happens. The lights don't dim and it doesn't even click. If I arc the solenoid on the starter, it turns over and runs just fine.
I have checked all the fuses and relays under the dash. Those don't appear burnt out and I've tried swapping relays and that doesn't work either.
Is there anything else that could have shorted out? Are there other fuses or relays that I'm missing? Or is there something with the ignition that could be causing it?
The power steering is not working in our 2001 Buick Park Avenue. It worked yesterday but today, nothing, at all. We did not hear any noises. The fluid level is good and I don't believe that there is a fuse, as this runs off of the drive belt. The fluid did smell a bit "burnt".
View 8 Replies98 Accord AC died and left burnt chemical smell in it's wake...
View 8 RepliesThe problem with the caller from CA's Subaru smelling like burnt rubber is the actual tires are heating up due to an improper torque split between the tires. Subarus are very sensitive to changes in tire pressure and thus the diameter and will wear the tires down. The driver mentioned 8 sets of tires. He has a bad torque split in the AWD system.
View 13 RepliesWhen I drive home from work at night I see a thin white smoke come from the right side on my hood. (Headlight area) I open the hood and I can't pin point it....smells vaguely on burnt rubber. I am new to a TDI so maybe I'm just being an idiot, but what is it? I drive spirited on the way home, but dont floor it. I do have one hill thats pretty steep I usually charge up...(fun to burn the rice rockets who struggle!) I thought maybe parking brake? Its only got 750 miles on it, so maybe its oil burning? 2006 v10
View 24 RepliesOkay so basically I was driving today when I noticed the smell of burnt toast. Didn't think anything of it so when I turned off my R I noticed some faint white smoke coming from my engine bay. It appears that the smoke is coming from the left side of the engine, when I pop off my engine covers, there are two hoses (one going to air intake/one going into intake manifold). It looks like its coming from either one of those hoses or somewhere below. I don't see any leaking fluids or anything.
View 4 Replies1999 F-150 4.6 4R70W transmission 148,000 miles. My transmission was slipping so I changed fluid and filter. I believe the transmission fluid was changed one other time (I did not find the yellow plug in the pan). Transmission fluid smelled burnt. Added new fluid and Lucas treatment. Turned truck on and the battery light came on. Brief test drive and no change in transmission until almost home and then it would not go into gear. Lights were dim power windows wouldn't work. Reverse works. I assume it is time for a new transmission and the electrical issue is related to the transmission. I use the truck a lot and am leaning towards getting it fixed. I can't swap out transmission myself and would have to take it to a garage.
View 3 RepliesDriving home today I started smelling a burnt clutch smell!
Well since I have an automatic, I wasn't to worried until my 6 yr old gets out when we get home and says "DAD something stinks really bad out here!"
Get out and wow!! I have never had a caliper lock up on any vehicle I have ever owned! It stunk like I burnt a clutch out of a standard tranny!
So I start poking around and the left rear caliper is locked up, rotor is blue and you can hear it popping like a valve spring cooling down.
So my question is is there anything to look for other than the normal? I will be getting the brake system power bleed after I replace the caliper. I already checked the brake lines and there are no obvious issues. It is possible the rubber inner lining is toast.