Burning smell

Recently when I have my heater on while driving to work, there's this burning smell that I get after awhile. But yesterday when driving home (without the heater on), the smell was super strong. Does anyone have any ideas on how I could track it down? I have my vents open so the smell was probably coming from there but where the source of the leak is I have no idea. :( Help!?!

when i worked at an auto shop one summer, this came up a few times. here is a possible solution. the burning smell is oil. check your valve cover gasket to see if there is any oil leaking there. if so, the oily burning smell is picked up through the ac/heater and pass on through to the cabin. this happened on a few benz's only b/c the ac/heater vents to the outside were right next to the valve covers. i don't think this is the case on our 3/S. but you might still check the valve covers for leaks.

maybe the heater core... check underneath the passenger side of the dash... if there's leaking, then that'll be it... then it may just be dust inside the system that's burning off...

ive heard that when the ecu's capacitor starts to melt, you can smell something like burning fiberglass. coming through the vents. is there any smoke when you pop the hood?

ive heard that when the ecu's capacitor starts to melt, you can smell something like burning fiberglass. coming through the vents. is there any smoke when you pop the hood?

If I remember correct... it'd be more of a burnt fish smell... b/c I used to rework amps for a pawn shop... and working on PCs, you also run into bad caps.. and they smell like burnt fish... maybe that's just because they were overheated... IDK...

ive heard that when the ecu's capacitor starts to melt, you can smell something like burning fiberglass. coming through the vents. is there any smoke when you pop the hood?

No, no smoke is coming through.

Mikelb, not sure if you were referring to the inside of the car or underneath the passenger side outside but I checked the inside and everything was okay.

Linebckr49, not completely sure but I think you may have nailed it. I popped the hood during lunch and noticed that the valve cover area has oil around it. Thing is, I cleaned this one spot before while the other spots weren't touched and the spot that was cleaned is still clean so I don't know if that's the source. Any ideas how I can fully check? I'll probably clean the dirty spots and keep an eye on it the next couple days.

Anybody else have any ideas? Let me know. Thanks guys!!!!

yes, I was referring to the interior of the car... as long as you don't see anything dripping, it should be fine... if you've got oil around the covers it's basically a dead giveaway... unless you spilled some oil... but that should only be around the oil filler cap... I'd say clean them and give it a couple of days... if the oil leak isn't big time... I'd prolly leave it alone for awhile... unless you plan on doing a tune up... b/c it seems like a lot of work just to do those seals themselves...

yes, I was referring to the interior of the car... as long as you don't see anything dripping, it should be fine... if you've got oil around the covers it's basically a dead giveaway... unless you spilled some oil... but that should only be around the oil filler cap... I'd say clean them and give it a couple of days... if the oil leak isn't big time... I'd prolly leave it alone for awhile... unless you plan on doing a tune up... b/c it seems like a lot of work just to do those seals themselves...


There's a lot of work taking the valve cover off and putting a new gasket on? :uhoh: I was hoping that it would be an easy pop off the valve cover, replace gasket, and put the cover back on...

to my understanding... you gotta pull the whole intake plenum... Maybe if I had a DOHC I could tell ya these things better... I got the SOHC... haven't done it to my stealth, but did it on a Corolla and an Escort... 4 cyl engines are much easier to work on... maybe I should go 4G63 and buy myself a turbo Eclipse... then I'll know everything...

Well, I cleaned the area around the valve cover today after work so I'll check back in a couple days to see if anything leaks.

Mikelb, I think there are two areas: right and left bank. The valve cover of that we're talking about is the left bank and we wouln't have to remove the plenum. The right bank is only accessible if the plenum is removed: http://www.vr4stealth.com/valve_cover_rejuvenation.htm
But yeah, if it leaks then I'll probably just take everything apart and change out all the gaskets. Thanks for the help man. I'll keep you guys posted in a couple days.

true that... I understood this... but if I were to replace one, I'd just go ahead and do both... Idk... maybe I'm wrong... but it just seems to me that if one is leaking... either the other one is too, or it won't be long before the other one does... so while I'm in there... get them both...