Ok, i have noriced this a few times and i usually just blow it off but i think i might have figured out why it is just here and there. It seems that when i drive on cold days there is this slight burning smell coming from the engine bay. kinda like a rubber or elerical smell not a normal car smell.

Sometimes it comes through the heater too. I have never smelled it before and still don't smell it on normal days or that much. Is this a normal smell or any ideas what it could be?


UPDATE: Figured it out!

 

Heater blower motor speed resistor array? If you remove it you may find its burning something close to it. I think its behind the glove box.

Wire being toasted by the exhaust manifold?

My $0.02

 

I will check that out except that i think that it still happends even when the heater is off. But i am at a loss myself so i will check that out. Thanks!

 

have you greased your drive shaft lately? mine was smelling gawd awful and what it was, was the grease being flung onto the pipe bc i was too lazy to clean up after myself :-)

 

btw take the fan out from behind the glove box. sometimes they get full of debris.. something to look into my friend

 

I greased it a few months ago and had the same problem. But that has been long cleaned up, or so i thought. The smell is not the kind that makes you just stop the car and worry that something is going bad wrong, just a slight burning smell like a slight overheating or something small.

I will do that as soon as I get the time, i don't feel like ripping apart the dash/heater right now but i will get to that. How hard is it?

 

get that every year.. kind of smells like clutch?? its may be one of your belts.. mine is always my power steering.. cold belt, cold pullys.. they slip and spin a little.. check your belt tensions. if you can pinpoint wich belt it is.. snugging it up a tad more then the norm may help.. i was amazed the difference in smells from a warm and cold belt..

 

Yeah, that is a good description. A belt is what i was thinking it might be, but i just had them done a few months ago so didn't seem like it would be that. I will have another look at them though!

 

yeah its not too bad. just very awkward to get to bc you have to basically get behind the glove box upside down. atleast that was easiest for me. undo a few screws and it pops out. not too bad. mine was half full of leaves and pine needles. never knew all that mess was in there.

 

It might be the belts then if you just had them done a few months ago. They'll stretch a little after the first few months and I usually go back and re tension them. Being cold isn't helping that either. Could be a combination of the two.

 

This is the best reason i have heard so far. That is what i first thought when i smelled it too but then said that since they were new it couldn't be them. I will do this when i do a basic tune up here in a few weeks. Hopefully that will fix it!

Thanks for all the help everyone!

 

did you ever figure this out? my truck has the same smell, i noticed it on my sisters expedition recently too.

 

I have the same smell and I know for a fact that my PS pump belt IS loose. I just did all my belts about a month ago and they have probably stretched. Good thread!

 

I am also curious - now, my case might be a bit different - this will only happen if -

The vent is on open - not recirculate, the heat is off, and I floor it; the hot air blasting in does smell a bit burny and I've always been wondering why.

 

Could it possibly be an electrical short from all that vato zone junk on your truck?


I was looking at your "build" the other day wondering how many fire extinguishers you carry in your "rig"??? You never showed any of your wiring. I would be curious to see it.

 

lol


I just looked at the rig and um yeah

 

Not for sure yet, I have been swamped at work. I did look at the belts very briefly and they do look like they could be lose. At this point that is what I am thinking it is.

Yeah, now that I think about it mine is similar. Although I always have my climate on auto so I don’t know for sure. I do know that it gets worse when I rev it high.

LOL, but no it is not that stuff. I did run the wires right, that is why there are no picture, the wires are all hidden. The only thing I wasn’t able to do before was put a fuse box in there so that everything would be fused. I am adding that when It gets warmer and I can get back out there. I know it is not the wires because they are only "charged" to my "relay station". If they were shorting then it would be coming from there or only happen when X thing was on.

 

I just snugged up my power steering belt a few months ago, now I got the same burnt rubber smell. I think I'll just put some new belts on since its probably that time. Course, I cannot remember which pulley adjusts on the 3.4l.

 

i've had the burning smell as well, but i'm wayyy overdue on my timing belt so i'm not going to ask for any help until i help myself hahaha

 

i've had a burning smell for awhile....but the smell is distinctive, smells like burnt oil/rubber, its 80-90w. I couldn't pinpoint the smell at first until I inspected my rear brakes. they were coated with oil. had the rear axel seals replaced and the smell went away for a month then came back. axel seals again! be sure you have someone reputeable replace your rear axel seals and bearings! i'm only going to make that mistake once...