1994 pickup, 3.0L driving fine but when i parked for the night just now i noticed a burning smell coming from the engine, seems to be coming from the upper right hand corner under the hood, like right behind the air filter... back up siren and alarm siren are mounted here but i do not know what it is , any ideas? the burning smells like a birthday candle if that makes sense,

any help would be great thanks !

 

go through and look for any wires...thats what a Ground wire burning smells like on my truck..but it was burning because my starter was lagging...new starter..no burning...so check your grounds first..then continue to check other wires..

 

I have a 95 3.0L 4runner. When I hit the gas real hard or turn on the ECT I also notice a burning smell. Im not sure what it is either

 

I have had a similar problem, it has turned out to be the driver's side valve cover gasket leaking and dripping onto the exhaust crossover pipe. I am going to replace it soon. Check it out, might be your problem.

 

that was the same thing for me with my 3.0 but it was on the passenger side just a few small drips and it would stink did not see much smoke because of the fan.

I replaced both valve cover seals it was a pain.
to anyone planning on replacing the valve cover seals get the intake manifold seal at the same time.

 

Ha, if you've taken it off road recently check for brush/grass stuck under there.

I've definitely had bad smells from burning grass in the undercarriage before...