Burning smell through vents after 20 min drive

PaulNYz

An oil leak is starting to seem like a possibility. It's just so strange that you can't smell it when you open the hood.

alcheng

if you can smell it when you open the hood then you're in big trouble, cos it means the oil has been spilled all over the engine bay.

I am suspecting a small leak, you might want to bring it to the garage and have them check it from the bottom of the car.

Good luck on it cos engine oil leak could be a pain in the a$$ to trace and fix.

PaulNYz

I can't really smell it when the hood is up. When I removed the oil cap after letting it sit for about 10 minutes, there was a decent amount of vapor escaping the fill hole. I could also see a decent amount in there.

Probably normal, but it seemed excessive for 10 minutes of sitting.

mishuko

Vapor from oil? Uhh check your oil levels and go get an oil and filter change.

urbanate

I've got about 12k miles on my z. Bought it new. It sits a lot and when I would drive it I was always getting a burning smell. At first I thought it was just because it was new and after that I chalked it up to not driving it enough. It goes to the dealer every 3 months for oil changes and no one has said a thing until this last time. When the dude went to check the car in he immediately said it was burning oil from the smell. They investigated it and sure enough passenger side head gasket? Valve cover? (forget what it was) was leaking from underneath. Not enough to drip any oil on the floor but enough to drip on the exhaust. Dealer put in a new one and no more smell.

Makes me wonder as they told me my steering rack was leaking after an inspection a while back. The leak was on the passenger side. It was replaced under warranty but I'm wondering if the rack itself was really the culprit.

PaulNYz

This sounds very similar to mine.. Can you describe the smell you had? Was it more of a burning rubber smell?

KrnAndy

you should check your belt first. I had the same problem, turned out to be my AC compressor partially engaging with the clutch (the rotating pulley) and was not spinning as fast as the belt causing it to burn. Any form of slipping belt could have caused it.

urbanate

Yeah kind of rubber like. It wasn't super strong and no fluids on the floor. Smell was a lot stronger when the hood was lifted though. I honestly was just thinking it was a characteristic of the car as I've had it since day one, it's not a daily driver so low miles and it's got a gold service plan so it's at the dealer every three months for oil changes / inspections regardless of milage. It was making that smell pretty much from day one.

I'm out of my bumper to bumper warranty but this was covered under the power train warranty.

If you can get under the car take a look up there. Or have them scope it out when if you take it in for any service.