A bit of an odd "problem" here for several reasons, and some help would be greatly appreciated!!
It is/has been winter here in Chicago for a few months, and since ~November or so, when I crank the heat up all the way and drive around the city, a very strong burning smell comes through the car. A bit about isolating where it from/what's causing it:
-It's not a sweet smell like many fluids/leaks may give off. It's more like a rubber-burning smell.
-It disappears at higher/highway speeds, presumably because whatever is burning/causing the smell has enough air passing over it to keep from entering in the car's venting.
-It can be smelled from the outside of the car while parked - and is coming from near the passenger side firewall, when the hood is open.
-It is not the cabin filter - mine was new, and when having service done recently, I mentioned this problem, and they replaced it - to no avail.
-It's not immediate - the car has to warm up (10 minutes or so), and be above an idle. I know this as I tried to replicate the problem by having it on for ~45 minutes to warm in the cold, with no results. It was only when I hopped on the pedal for a minute or two to get the RPMs up a bit, that the scent returned.
I describe this as a "problem" as the car is 100% otherwise. All belts are new/in great shape, fluids changed, etc (about 70k miles on the car). Nevertheless, any burning smell usually evokes concern! There is nothing touching/rubbing any hot areas of the engine or exhaust that shouldn't be/otherwise isn't - which would cause this. My only thought is recently, my car had the windshield changed several times (3 in fact by the morons at Safelite - who say they have the OEM glass, but in fact don't/the rain sensor will never shut off - and once by the dealership who finally got it right). This was around September/October, and the last time the aforementioned morons did it, they did a very sloppy job, leaving the black tar-like glue on the hood of the car, and (without telling me, hence a nice dealer trip thereafter), having to break out one of the windshields, getting glass into the wiper motor area, and burning that out. So, my thought being for an otherwise 100% healthy and well maintained car, maybe the morons or stealership people got a little crazy with the glue/parts and dribbled some down in an area that gets hot, and that's what I'm smelling. I can't find anything when trying to track the smell down/look closely.
Lengthy, but please, any help would be tremendously appreciated, as a burning smell now, could mean big problems, later.
It is/has been winter here in Chicago for a few months, and since ~November or so, when I crank the heat up all the way and drive around the city, a very strong burning smell comes through the car. A bit about isolating where it from/what's causing it:
-It's not a sweet smell like many fluids/leaks may give off. It's more like a rubber-burning smell.
-It disappears at higher/highway speeds, presumably because whatever is burning/causing the smell has enough air passing over it to keep from entering in the car's venting.
-It can be smelled from the outside of the car while parked - and is coming from near the passenger side firewall, when the hood is open.
-It is not the cabin filter - mine was new, and when having service done recently, I mentioned this problem, and they replaced it - to no avail.
-It's not immediate - the car has to warm up (10 minutes or so), and be above an idle. I know this as I tried to replicate the problem by having it on for ~45 minutes to warm in the cold, with no results. It was only when I hopped on the pedal for a minute or two to get the RPMs up a bit, that the scent returned.
I describe this as a "problem" as the car is 100% otherwise. All belts are new/in great shape, fluids changed, etc (about 70k miles on the car). Nevertheless, any burning smell usually evokes concern! There is nothing touching/rubbing any hot areas of the engine or exhaust that shouldn't be/otherwise isn't - which would cause this. My only thought is recently, my car had the windshield changed several times (3 in fact by the morons at Safelite - who say they have the OEM glass, but in fact don't/the rain sensor will never shut off - and once by the dealership who finally got it right). This was around September/October, and the last time the aforementioned morons did it, they did a very sloppy job, leaving the black tar-like glue on the hood of the car, and (without telling me, hence a nice dealer trip thereafter), having to break out one of the windshields, getting glass into the wiper motor area, and burning that out. So, my thought being for an otherwise 100% healthy and well maintained car, maybe the morons or stealership people got a little crazy with the glue/parts and dribbled some down in an area that gets hot, and that's what I'm smelling. I can't find anything when trying to track the smell down/look closely.
Lengthy, but please, any help would be tremendously appreciated, as a burning smell now, could mean big problems, later.
