Burning smell under my hood

[Darrell KSR]

You shade tree mechanics, what is this?

Coincidentally (maybe) my check engine light came on. I ran the fault code through a scanner, and it came back with the fuel emission, fuel cap kinda thing, so I thought it was just my 14-year old fuel cap needing replacement.

Turned on the car for my wife and I to go somewhere, and she had to run back in the house, so I left the car running, and when she came back she told me she smelled a burning smell, maybe burning rubber, like a belt.

I opened the hood and the smell is coming from the passenger side, but I don't see any belt issues, and maybe it's not a burning rubber smell, but something else. That something else scares me. Definitely an old burnt kinda smell.

The shop is going to tell me soon enough, I guess, but I am not bringing it in until I replace the hood struts. They told me last time it needed replacing and forgot what they were going to charge me, but I told them forget it, I would do it myself. Ordered a pair off Amazon and expecting them in tonight.

Of course, when I took the hood cover off, I already broke one of the bolts. And I thought I'd try to loosen the existing strut and realized I couldn't find a 12mm wrench, and I can't seem to budge it with a crescent wrench, so I'll probably screw that up too.

Sigh.

Fortunately have my daughter's Honda from New York here, and my old Jeep I can't quite push myself to get rid of yet, so I have some backups for now.

[KentuckyWildcat]

Manifold on that side? Could be oil?

edit: Oil smells a lot different than a belt.

[blueboss]

Have you seen the cat lately?


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[CitizenBBN]

Have you seen the cat lately?


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I almost spit my dinner. Thank goodness I'm not the only deeply wrong person on here.

[CitizenBBN]

Just told my girlfriend. She almost spat her food too, then told me it was even more meaningful b/c it happened to her.

So she's more wrong than either of us, and I'm wondering if it was smart moving her in with me.

[Darrell KSR]

I think we'll play guess the repair. Wish Keith was here. He always seemed to be in the ballpark.

(And my first though was an animal of some sort. Neither of our two cats, as I knew where they were, but some rodent or whatever. We have woods that back up to us, and a state park across the street from our neighborhood, so any and all kind of animals ate always possible.)

Have two fault codes that I think (hope) are the gas cap and unrelated. I'm hoping it's nothing super serious like some head gasket or something. I don't even know what that is.

And a manifold? Is that some sort of fingernail trimming, polishing or something?

Yeah, I don't know cars.

[Catfan73]

Was the AC on? Might be the compressor going out.

I thought about the cats too but they don’t smell like rubber.

[KentuckyWildcat]

What kind of car is it?


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[Darrell KSR]

It's an old--but in my arsenal of vehicles, pretty new--(2009) Lexus GX470.

I'm not sure I'll have time to put the struts in today, and tomorrow for sure I'm out all day with appointments, and Friday I'm headed to New Orleans, and Saturday I'm headed back to Birmingham, so there's a GREAT chance it will be next week before this gets diagnosed by "the man."

A/C was not on. The two times we've started the car since that time and looked, it took a couple of minutes before the burning smell began. Could be a burned oil type smell; I dunno. It doesn't smell good (in the sense that I'm seeing $$$.) I'm thinking about driving it late at night to "the man" and seeing if the smell has burned off, but I doubt that is the case.

[BigBluePappy]

PCV Valve?

[CitizenBBN]

Does it kinda burn at all when you smell it? Wondering if it's rubber/plastic or oil/fluid. Hard to tell a smell on the internet, or describe one. If it's a fluid leaking out onto something hot it could be not just oil but also power steering, etc.

Have you checked all fluid levels? That may be a clue, and may be in this thread and I missed it.

[Darrell KSR]

I'll check all fluid levels before I bring it in, and make sure I update. We'll let everyone do a guess and see what it ends up being. I think it's a little like saying, "what color needle do you think is in that haystack," rather than just finding it (like you said, hard to diagnose a smell on the internet), but that might make it fun.

I did check the oil and the oil level was fine. I glanced at the transmission fluid reservoir, and it looked fine, but didn't spend any time with it). Doesn't have that sweet antifreeze smell, so I think that part can be ruled out. Of course, it will probably be something dumb like that after all.

I have good lighting on my driveway where it is parked now, so I may try to put the struts in tonight after the game, but the weather may not cooperate either. Lot of time for good (and bad) guesses, I think.

[CitizenBBN]

I had one with a power steering fluid leak that smelled. Not as sweet as antifreeze smells, but not as strong as oil either.

The thing is fluids usually have a give away smell, besides the fact you can see stuff dripping or spewing.

[dan_bgblue]

If you are not seeing smoke and the vehicle had not moved prior to noticing the smell, I am guessing that the insulation on a wire is getting hot due to an overload or a simple short. They do not have to smoke to put off an odor.

[BigBluePappy]

Inquiring minds are curious?

[Darrell KSR]

No diagnosis yet; my fault, not the mechanic's. The problem is, I've had a rental car because I've been to New Orleans back and forth twice, going back and forth to Jackson, and going back and forth to Cincinnati (next week). I just haven't had time to take it there, but I will do it over the weekend (they are closed weekends). If I didn't have the rental cars, and my daughter's car from NY, I'm sure I would have done it already.

[bigsky]

[QUOTE=BigBluePappy;811112]PCV Valve?[/

[suncat05]

Just told my girlfriend. She almost spat her food too, then told me it was even more meaningful b/c it happened to her.

So she's more wrong than either of us, and I'm wondering if it was smart moving her in with me.

Only if you wake up and she's standing over you with a frying pan full of hot grease in her hands...........

[PedroDaGr8]

(And my first though was an animal of some sort. Neither of our two cats, as I knew where they were, but some rodent or whatever. We have woods that back up to us, and a state park across the street from our neighborhood, so any and all kind of animals ate always possible.)

I had an issue recently with my 2004 Honda CR-V. I pulled out of the driveway and when I shifted into drive (it's an automatic), it shifted HARD AS HELL. Shifting with a loud bang, kind of hard shift. This continued as it would shift gears from a stop. Not good in an automatic, so I turned around and came home.

I knew I was within around 1000 miles of needing to change the transmission fluid and Honda isn’t know for their amazing transmissions. In particular, the filters in the shift solenoids tend to clog up over time, causing the solenoid to no longer function causing the exact symptoms I was experiencing; so I figured it was something along those lines. I gathered the transmission fluid, shift solenoid gasket, and other miscellaneous parts I will need to repair this issue and take it to the local DIY garage. I drain the transmission fluid and remove the air filter box to expose the transmission underneath and am greeted with the following:



Lots of rodent poop, some chewed up seeds, and two mangled wires going between the wiring hardness and the upper shift solenoid. Wires which had clearly become a tasty treat for said rodent! Long story short, I was prepared for a number of possibilities but I was NOT prepared for this. After a lot of swearing, removal of ancient electrical tape, and freeing the necessary wires from the harness, I was able to join them back together and sure enough everything worked flawlessly (other than the headlight wire I broke removing the battery )

[bigsky]

PCV Valve?

That newfangled PCV valve in my ‘67 chevy is the most modern thing this “shade tree mechanic” has ever replaced under the hood; fluids, batteries and air filters excepted. Not even a belt or spark plugs.

So I did laugh out loud.

[BigBluePappy]

Back when I could still work on my own vehicles, back when I was getting ready to take Bathsheba to the prom, it was often times a clogged PCV that was the culprit.
Removing, replacing and seeing if the oil smell dissipated was a cheap diag tool and just a general PM thing to follow. Took all of one minute in most cases.

[Darrell KSR]

Will know next week.

Dropped it off at the shop. For what it's worth, I counted 14 envelopes with keys in them for people who dropped their car off this weekend, so I am not expecting any word tomorrow. Telling them that I'm not worried, I have two extra cars at home and renting a car for a week Thursday anyway, so they may keep me at the back for awhile. Frankly, I'd love them to keep it for two weeks, and I may ask them that.

[Darrell KSR]

They called me this morning, and asked if I had to get the car back today. I laughed and said no, that had an extra car at home right now but if I could not have it fixed by Thursday, they would just need to keep it for another week. I don't think they're going to look at it today.

[Darrell KSR]

Yikes.

I'm still not sure what is what, but my little taking that into the shop, and I have a $5726 repair bill.

Some sort of gasket leaking, but also something with rear air bags, and I dunno. My ears glazed over when they were telling me. I asked them to send it to me in writing so i could see it better.

[Darrell KSR]

OK, so here's the scoop.

Going to get out for $1200 today instead. I told the guy that they had an excellent way of selling their services, because now that sounded cheap. Basically, here is what was going on.

Had a check engine light on that I was pretty sure was the gas cap, and that's what they said. Don't like it very much, but they charge a diagnostic fee of $150 for stupid code and diagnostic but my shop does very good work and have taken care of my Hondas and Lexus and I let them make a little extra, I guess.

The burning smell is the valve cover gaskets are leaking. That's $936 for it, including labor.

The rest of it was the timing belt service, but it is not due by mileage, and the guy I spoke with said that he owned a GX 470 and he wouldn't have that done until the mileage indicated it. That was going to be another $2800 or so.

The last part of it was something about the rear aur airbags were sagging. It's not a safety issue, and can wait, but eventually it will burn up the compressor and be a problem. He said it could wait.

I'm not sure who won the contest, but it kind of sounded like the PCV thing. You guys will have to tell me who won. I know for sure who lost.

[BigBluePappy]

Wow.
But $936 for the valve cover gasket is not all that bad on vehicles anymore...

[CitizenBBN]

Cat would have been cheaper. Just sayin'.

[dan_bgblue]

Wow.
But $936 for the valve cover gasket is not all that bad on vehicles anymore...

Do they have to pull the engine and trans these days to replace a gasket?

Back in the day on a mid 70s and earlier auto that would be a job that would take an hour, with 2 coffee breaks included, or less to replace the 20 dollar part.

[bigsky]

Problem I see is that it’s all book prices. You want me to okay doing the timing belt while the engine’s tore down for valve cover gaskets? Okay, let the price reflect that.

There is a whole bunch of stuff to remove just to get to the valve covers. Unlike the way they just stuck up and out and it was 8 #7/16 bolts a side and maybe we unplug the hose with the pvc valve too…still I hate that a two hour job on the V-8 to remove, scrape and clean and glue two gaskets and replace now takes $936.

PS I go to O’Relly’s and they plug that little thing in under the steering wheel and read the check engine codes and sell me a gas cap or change my windshield wipers or whatever.

Lots of times on Toyotas the maintenance required light comes on a thousand miles before I’m inclined to change the oil, Nanny Toyota.

[bigsky]

Had my ‘98 T-100 begun leaking oil from the gaskets I would have had the timing belt changed. Two different Toyota guys told me to look for that very thing on my underpowered but reliable 6.