Car smells while daily driving.

[kpszar]

I have a 1999, 4 cylinder with 58,000 miles. On Saturday I was leaving a friends house about an hour ride, during the first 5 or 10 minutes it started to smell like gas and then it went away but it started to smell like I was burning rubber. On Monday I got an oil change and all the levels were fine. Then I had to go to college about a 20 minute and the burning rubber smell came back. Then about an hour later I had to go to some auto stores to return some thing, etc... and the car was smelling like rubber in the first couple of minutes! The smell was pretty strong and had to go to work. The car was sitting about 4 hours and then when I was coming home It started smell again during the first 5 minutes.

And Today When I was going to Home DEPT (20 min ride) turning into the parking lot smell like an electrical burning smell, I was in the store about a good hour or more to let the car cool down. Then went to an pool store which was a 5 min away and had the same during electrical smell. When I was coming home today after shopping the car smell soo bad, burning rubber and gas! When I stop at the stop sign it was soo strong had two roll down all the windows. I looked on the gauge and the engine was reading fine, A little below the middle like before all this happened.

The last month I installed new spark plug wires and plugs, The wires are some NGK replacements and NGK Iridium plugs. This cannot be a problem because a week after I installed then was no type of smell or anything. The only thing that was recently done to the car was the Front Evo4 Bumper I installed, which I am going to take off when they try to see what is the problem. It should not be the intake because it is not melted in any way and did not caused any problems when I installed it, a good 6-8 months ago.

I hope it is not a major problem, I do not want to spend a lot of money. What do you think that is causing this, I looked around the motor and did not see anything unusual or anything leaking.

[bigbird]

make sure the bumper isnt too close to the radiator and its components as well. theres not much R&D put into thoes cheap aftermarket repos.

[kpszar]

Originally Posted by bigbird

make sure the bumper isnt too close to the radiator and its components as well. theres not much R&D put into thoes cheap aftermarket repos.

I don't think it is the bumper I have, it did not smell when I first put it on and was driving with it about 2 weeks. There is a good gap between the radiator and etc..., no evidence of the bumper burning or melting. I will check Extreme Dimensions Dura-Flex if anyone else had a problem like mine. I took the bumper off before I took it to the shop.

One of my friends at work said it could be the belt, but all belts look fine. The smell happens when the car is in the sun and start driving, when I drive it in the morning, it does not smell. The car started to smell like gas when I accelerated and then later smell like rubber, thinking it is a hose but the car would of leaked something. I just want the car to catch on fire or something.

[Barcs]

Since it smells like burning rubber, I'd also check out the tires and make sure they aren't scraping against anything. Sometimes the wheel well plastic pieces break and hang off a little bit and scrape the tire. Also check your wires and hoses and make sure none are rubbing up against any hot components of the engine. You said you smell gas also? Check the whole system for a gas leak and inspect the fuel pump, which is usually located under the back seat. See if there's a puddle under your car after running 5 minutes in your driveway. It's not a rotten egg type smell, right? If so, it's your cat converter.

When you did the sparks and wires, did you change the distributor cap and rotor and fuel filter as well? If not you might want to do it.

[gladis]

My car smells like burning something every once in a while too, I thought they were just the brakes?

[kpszar]

Well nothing leaks and the tires don't rub. I had the converter checked about a year ago due to my flex pipe having a big hole. I looked under there yesterday in the morning and did not see any leaks. I just hope the shop finds the smell.

The breaks should not cause the smell, while you stop it smells worst because there is no air moving the gases away from the car.

[Zviator]

Block the air come from engine bay (a/c), try to isolate whether it come from engine bay or somewhere else ...

[kpszar]

One of the mechanic's at the local shop, said it's natural to have it smell like that especially what you have done to the car. He said it is running rich with the intake and exhaust system, but should be fine. I might spend a little money to get an Apex Controller/meter.

Oh by the way what is the hose that connects to the intake, not the one that connects to the valve cover. The one that is connected by a "T" with a green cap, then another hose going into a metal house going under the car's cabin? Right now I have it connected to the intake tube but I need to make the hose a little longer and do not want it to be a problem.

[kpszar]

UPDATE= I recently realized that a mechanic put twice the oil needed into my car! I am surprised that I did not noticed that sooner, the car leaked a little oil and is about 4 spots on the driveway proving that. So now I have to wait until Saturday to get it looked at because I need a car to go to college and work. Around the Oil Filter it looks wet and near the tranny support. I hope it is not something major.

[xtremeskier97]

Originally Posted by kpszar

UPDATE= I recently realized that a mechanic put twice the oil needed into my car! I am surprised that I did not noticed that sooner, the car leaked a little oil and is about 4 spots on the driveway proving that. So now I have to wait until Saturday to get it looked at because I need a car to go to college and work. Around the Oil Filter it looks wet and near the tranny support. I hope it is not something major.

I dont think you can fit 9 quarts of oil in our cars (never tried myself). How in the HELL did the mechanic manage to do that??!?!?!! Id take it somewhere else and have them check to see if anything was messed up/damaged because of this. If it is, hold the first shop accountable to it!

This is one PRIMARY reason why you should do your OWN oil changes! It's not hard at all!

[kpszar]

I don't know how the mechanic did that! on the dip stick it is pass Full, double the amount it is showing.

[kpszar]

Well on Saturday, I took the car to the shop. They could not find the problem. They told me the oil is just a "little" overfilled and that there is a small leak in the oil pan. I was annoyed because there was no leak when I gave it to them for an oil change. Today I found a new spot on the drive way that came from my car and the car smelled a little coming home from work. I have to wait to speak to the owner of the shop.

[BlueFusion6851]

Your mechanic sounds like an idiot. End of story.