Funny burning smell from my car

[obi_waynne]

Whilst on Holiday I noticed a "burning wood smell" coming from my car. First time I thought it was outside the car, but when we drove somewhere else and got out the smell was there again.

The smell had vanished when the car had cooled down when we returned to it.

I checked the engine bay, looked underneath for a trapped branch or twig that might have been dragging on the road.

Then I noticed the catalyst was not quite right.

We'd driven through what can only be described as a mountain of horse manure and this had coated the catalyst heat shield and it was this that was happily smouldering away!

Glad it was nothing too serious but it shows you can't be too careful.

Has this happened to anyone else? Do you avoid deep piles of horse manure like me? I assumed the middle of the car went over it but this was clearly not the case!

 

[bigbadjoe]

No, nothing like that. When I first got my car I had a lot of clutch fluid smells and a few tyre burning smells but that's about it! :toung:

 

[lutonmatt]

i have it all the time on the landorver
but not so much horse mess but just mud and normaly smelly mud

once your go thou a few bogs while off road then it gets on the exhaust and the smell is there for days

 

[HDi fun]

I hate it when you get some airborne 'particles' drawn into the A/C and ventilation air ducting. THey stick to the cabin filter like no tomorrow.

I once removed a sparrows head (???) from the ventilation intake. God knows at what speed I hit the poor little birdie.

 

[pgarner]

the AC Holds onto smells for ages. jumped in the car and got a strong smell of lemon. hadnt used the dash cleaner in over a month, suddenly smelling it coming out the vents

 

[HDi fun]

the AC Holds onto smells for ages. jumped in the car and got a strong smell of lemon. hadnt used the dash cleaner in over a month, suddenly smelling it coming out the vents

The evaporator can, indeed, hold 'fragrances' for ages. Some of the anti-bacterial spray can type (deploy and leave) products do a half reasonable job of sorting this. If it's a bad problem then use 2-3 in a row, but at approaching £10 a shot it's pricey. They also leave the seat tops very wet.

 

[T9 man]

Had a Powerflow stainless steel exhaust system once which was painted, that gave off a very worrying smell for a day! until I called the garage who then put my mind at rest!

 

[dpsubaru]

rabbit intestines all across the front of my radiator - was some smell coming off it after a spirited drive. made sure i parked in the shopping centre right next to the door to the carpark so everyone had a good wiff when they came out,