Smells like burnt
03-02-2005, 09:54 AM
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Smells like burnt
I have an 88 crx si and usually when Ive been driving for a while the car starts to smell like something is burning, every time I give someone a ride they tell me the same thing. The other day, right when I turned off the car I looked through my front right rim and I could see some smoke, then I opened the hood but I couldnt see were it was coming from, I could only smell it. Does anybody know were its coming from? 
Last edited by oc9crx; 03-02-2005 at 09:55 AM. Reason: Mispelling
03-02-2005, 11:22 AM
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The usual suspects are oil and coolant. Oil tends to burn bluish, coolant is white. I can hardly tell the difference from the smoke, though. Try oil first. Look for oil around your valve head as a start. If that's leaking, it can drip onto the exhaust manifold which is hot enough to vaporize the oil instantly. There are a zillion and one places oil can leak from. You could also look at your oil pan gasket. If it's broken somewhere (rare, but not impossible) you'll get pressurized scalding-hot oil shooting around your engine bay. Coolant can drip out of the lower radiator hose. The coolant gets hot enough that as soon as it leaves the high-pressure environment of the cooling system, it's boiling temperature drops with the atmospheric pressure and it vaporizes when it leaks out. The smell is the burning fluid getting pulled into your ac/vent system. If it smells sort of sweet, it's coolant. If it has a dark, burnt smell, it's oil
03-02-2005, 12:16 PM
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if you are smelling it in the cabin and under the hood then you may have a big problem as it could start a full fledged fire
if its a burn smell it is some leaking oil or some rubber part that maybe sitting against the block
like augy said if its a sickly sweet smell its coolant but it won't burn just evaporate
if its a burn smell it is some leaking oil or some rubber part that maybe sitting against the block
like augy said if its a sickly sweet smell its coolant but it won't burn just evaporate
03-02-2005, 03:50 PM
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You should get in there and look around... Jack the car up, and look with a flash light... There should be some remnants of scorched oil or something I would think... I definately wouldnt be driving the car around until I figured out exactly what it is...
03-06-2005, 08:47 PM
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Originally Posted by oc9crx
found out the problem, turns out one of my axle seals tore and some of the tranny fluid was running to the exhaust, 