Burnt Smell?

[hawk99]

I noticed a burnt smell coming from the engine area after I turned the car off. Could this be the engine oil? Computer is saying that the oil doesn't have to be changed for another 11,000 km or so.

any ideas?

thanks

[Kai Viti]

Racoon?

What kind of car do you drive that doesn't need oil change for another 11k?

Do you smell it inside the car or outside?

Maybe an oil leak. Time for new gaskets, maybe, if it's an older car.

[hawk99]

car is only 4 yrs old. Uses synthetic oil, so they told me today it should be changed every 20,000 km or 1 year. They checked it and found no leaks.

[watson1987]

after driving it hard?
it could be the tranny smelling a bit, if you drive the car harder then it can take, and doesnt have a chance to warm up properly in this type of weather

or it could be as simple as the tires?

[PrinceMS]

Burning smell of what? rubber? oil?

11k is v.high for oil change. Check your manual how much does it say for in b/w oil changes. I do it at 3k, 5k max!

[guardianfox]

have you or the servicepeople spilled anything last time you topped up the fluids? If so, then no worry. Is there anything electronic acting funny? If so get wires checked. could even be dust/debris/mud (yes that stuff CAN get in there)


sort of off-topic... but I've driven 50,000km on the same oil and the engine is still perfect, and the oil is still pretty clean and clear and at about the level. And it's a crappy crappy car with cheap oil plus one serving of oil treatment. Why so neglectful? Well, when the body/suspension/clutch/etc... are all gone anyway... why care? *shrug* I dont know why the oil put up with it so well.

[nx2k]

most likely to be tires/ oil, fluid/ clutch

[SoNgMaN]

maybe it's your brakes. mine are burning a bit since i did new pads and rotors on sunday.

and as someone else said 20K is WAAAAY to long for an oil change especially on a new car with more metal filings etc. filter needs to be changed before the oil usually becauseit gets cloggedwith junk.

[hawk99]

Dealer says 20k or 1 year. Don't drive the car very often, about 15k per year.
They did find some remenants of a plastic bag stuck to the bottom of the car and thought it could have been that causing the smell.

[synaptech]

I know all the new cars and maintenanc schedules claim 20k+ but the life of the oil is not the only concern. I just have a hard time believing it...

[Kai Viti]

Dealer says 20k or 1 year. Don't drive the car very often, about 15k per year.
They did find some remenants of a plastic bag stuck to the bottom of the car and thought it could have been that causing the smell.

What does your car manual say about frequency of oil changes?
Is this a sports car or Euro luxury sedan? If you use car year round, like in winter, generally oil has to be changed more frequently than if you lived in milder climate. Manufacturers even change oil change frequencies in their manuals depending on which country car is sold in.

[spaceTraveler]

Dealer says 20k or 1 year. Don't drive the car very often, about 15k per year.
They did find some remenants of a plastic bag stuck to the bottom of the car and thought it could have been that causing the smell.

my car had a burnt plastic smell when a plastic bag got stuck to the bottom of the car, maybe that's the case for you too

[Theoneandonly]

my car had a burnt plastic smell when a plastic bag got stuck to the bottom of the car, maybe that's the case for you too

Had the same problem. Honda said the smell will eventually go away, just takes time. Just avoid driving over any plastic bags, it may seem harmless but the smell is very annoying.

[SoNgMaN]

ahh yes the plastic bag on the cat convertor, that was so 6 month ago. when it happenedto me i scraped it off during the next oil change when it was up on the hoist.

[v00d00]

I've had that occurence as well before where I smelled something burning.. somewhere between a rubber and oil burning. It only happened once and it went away, and nothing ever came up on my OBD2.

I was/am stumped... but if it was just once and went away.. some kind of fluke occurence.

As for 20,000km or 1yr between oil changes.. WTF? That does seem like a very long time. I had thought even synthetics were supposed to be changed around every 8,000km (normal usage) and thats in comparison to 5,000km for regular oil.

Seems some other people here also are suspicious of the 20,000km/1yr oil... you may want to do some research and verify that is an acceptable length of time.. unless you already have, and in which case we're just all ignorant of whatever oil you are using and in whatever vehicle.