Faint burning smell?
 

I have about 1100 miles on my 370 and I've driven it overall quite conservatively. When I get home from work, I always notice a faint burnt rubber-like smell from the car. Mainly it's from the engine bay or front wheel wells. I'm not burning any oil as the oil level is consistently pretty full and not changing. Any thoughts? I've heard that sometimes this is just a new car phenomenon as some grease, stickers, etc burn off some of the parts. Fact or fiction?

Totally normal IMO.

My 1st 1000 miles = a lot of rubber burning smell. Then it gets less and less. Even at 2000 miles, I still smell it every now and then.

I had the same kind of smells on my car too, it's normal. It eventually goes away. Now at around 3100 miles I haven't noticed it in a while.

:iagree: with AK and wstar. Ours still smells every time it is parked in the garage.

This might be relevant. a lot of people commented on the smell in this thread.

http://www.the370z.com/nissan-370z-g...r-highway.html

agreed!

Read that thread a while back...I cringe every time I read it! Fortunately my wife can't drive a manual transmission.

Thanks for the replies everyone. I do think I'm noticing the smells less and less, but it still catches me off guard sometimes. In retrospect, my wife got a 2008 Altima last year and the first night we had it, I actually saw little plumes of smoke rising up in front of the headlights. It's been a great car since day 1, so I assume there is just factory grease, oils, lube, labels, etc that burn off when the engine is hot. Glad to hear that others are noticing the same thing.

doesnt the cats on the exhuast cause the burning smell? i thought i remember replacing cats before on other cars and it having the same smell...

That too. When I first installed my headers and cats actually, there was visible smoke rising out of the engine bay, which I thought for sure was an exhaust leak in my install. Turns it out it was just burnoff from the metals of the new components as well as other things on the car experiencing new levels of heat. After one good highway run the smoking stopped.

Same smell when I park in the garage. But not every time. I know I'm not burning the clutch and don't push it very hard yet since it's only got about 850 miles on it. Hoping it goes away with time.

muffler delete burning smell :ugh2:

it's the smell of a brand new car, you gotta luv it, ha ha

speaking of which...my interior still has that brand new car smell..albeit faint now, but still there after 1800 miles...:tup:

same here, no eating and no drinking in the z. oh and no slobbering *** bloodhounds,lol

:roflpuke2: ya bloodhounds could definately alter the interior smell somewhat...

I've got the same smell, I guess it's just normal. Everyone i've showed the car to comments on the smell as well. It's like burnt rubber.

Yep, my Z smells like burning engine oil and rubber. The smell has become less and less as I drive it. My oil level is fine too.

I've had cars that smelled gasket burning too when new. :). Its perfectly normal, I thinks.

The smell is completely gone on mine (4900 mi). Just the break in smell of the new oils and lubes being burned away.

:iagree:

at 2500 miles, and i just smelled it in the garage yesterday too.

Mine does it too, but I also have a lot of mist (it does not smeel like smoke nor is it thick) coming out of the exhaust when it is cold. Is this normal? It is not cold outside (68 degrees) yet there is a lot comming out. I could see if it was 50 degrees or so. I just bought it (used) and it has 2,000 miles on it. Should I bring it back?

Thanks.

Thats normal!Just condensation from the hot vapors coming out the exhaust.Stops after a few minutes.

Thanks. I thought something might be wrong. I drove a Porsche 968 for a while and just like every other car I own it only did it when it was really cold.

That is the smell of the bottom of your sneakers. Sounds like you've got the driving technique down pat, good job.

I get this sometimes when i'm on cruises with the car club but then i realize it's actually coming from any of the z32 tt in front of me burning/spitting oil out their exhaust like they run on diesel or don't know what a trubo seal is.

the smell is cosmoline burning off. a oily coating they put on stuff from the factory to prevent rust/weathering during shipping of the car.

happy to report...825miles and the smell is completely gone. :)

Maybe theres a dead racoon in ur trunk ...it happens..

The exhaust is coated with an anti corrosive film that takes about 2-3k to burn off its natural. You notice it will eventually go away and all will be great.

I recently hit 20,000 miles on my nismo and when I run the heater fairly high (usually when I notice it) there is a burning smell. To me smells like hot plastic or something idk. I did just get back from an hour drive and I drive somewhat aggressively but not more than what I feel the car should be able to handle. Any thoughts? the oil temp was around 220 and rarely gets higher than that

I hope you get this resolved... that said...


I'm glad you bumped this thread because I was wondering about the burning smell that the rest of this thread seems dedicated to and am relieved to see that my situation is completely normal.

7k here and it smells.

I always smell burnt rubber when i get home. Maybe i am launching the car to hard at every stop sign....

sounds normal
I used to smell my clutch a hell of alot back when it had a few thousand miles on it

I smelled similar thing. But then I realized I turned heater to 85 it was my skin was burning!

im at 21k miles and i am getting this smell occasionally, i have always thought it was clutch or something but i guess its normal lol

dman that smell
 

i have 13,000 miles on my car and i get this smell once in a while, this morning it was particularly strong, a burning rubber/plastic smell. i was just sitting in traffic in the rain and it was quite disturbing, i turned the AC on just to drown it out a bit, i really wish i knew what it was

At 56,000 I still get that. Changed the cabin filter still get it, smells like a car ahead of you is getting a flat only happens when the feed is from the outside and the a/c is off, dealer as usual is tell me that I am the only one complaining of this. So far as they are concerned these cars have NO ISSUES... Looks good in my driveway, I am also on my 3rd transmission, the last one Nissan built special for me, We will see what happens here :werd:

We had this burning smell with the wifey's Murano too all the way up to 10K miles. It's mostly gone now but I did take it back to the dealer for a look over and mostly so it would be recorded in their records as a complaint, should it ever develop into more of an issue.

Nice to hear, seems to be a normal occurence. Im having these same smells from my new engine.