rubber smell & smoke

[94E420]

my 89 Camry v6 le wagon has been smoking that smells like rubber. seems like most of the smoke (not a ton) come out first from the right side of the engine. in the past 12 months i have gone through 2 batteries. the car has 171k on it and is in great shape with no rust so i would like to keep in running. any ideas as to what is going on and how to fix it?

Thanks!

p.s. my first to fan positions on the a/c push button control unit don't work either. how to fix?

[Kingdom934]

Smoke (Smells like rubber) and on the right side (when inside the car) of the engine?

Could be a slipping belt. Any odd noises also?

[ycartf]

Our first two fan positions do not work on our 1990 Camry and someone on here told me it was a resistor up under passenger's side of the dash. Do a search for that using the term resistor too (think I will now too since I have misplaced it). This should not have anything to do with your smell you spoke of.

Found the thing about fan speeds

http://www.toyotanation.com/forum/t62289.html

[toyomoho]

What happened to the first two batteries?

[94E420]

yeah the smoke is coming from the engine compartment. the first two batteries went dead. it also idles really wierd since this has been happening. all electrical stuff works (except what I already mentioned) except when you use electrical stuff it makes the car act wierd and at night things go dim.

[Mike Gerber]

Originally Posted by 94E420

yeah the smoke is coming from the engine compartment. the first two batteries went dead. it also idles really wierd since this has been happening. all electrical stuff works (except what I already mentioned) except when you use electrical stuff it makes the car act wierd and at night things go dim.

Putting 2 and 2 together from what you have said, it sounds like the alternator pulley may be seizing. That would explain both the smell (belt trying to turn over a seized pulley) and why the batteries are going dead, along with why the car acts weird when you use electrical stuff-the alternator pulley siezes and just can't keep up with the electrical load put on it.

You can try two things here. You can take the car to a place like Autozone and have then check the charging system; they will do this for free. You can also remove the belt from the alternator pulley and see how the pulley spins by hand. It should spin fairly easily.

As for the loss of the first 2 fan speeds, you have a defective "blower motor resistor"; a dealer only part.

Good luck.

Mike

[toyomoho]

Suspect the alternator or wiring. Have a sniff around these areas. The issues are the dead batteries, wierd idle, dim lights, ect. An electrical problem would cause these.