CRJ is stumped for once....

This has just reacently started to occur.. I have no idea what is causing this but, when i turn the heat on, it sucks some nasty smell out of the engine bay and blows inside the cab. I haven't really checked it out yet but i don't like it. Last time i got my oil changed i got it done at Firestone for the 9.99 deal and its not synthetic at all, its kendal. ( My lazy ass didn't want to do it) Tonight when i parked my car i put it in reverse and pulled into my driveway which has a slight incline and it got really bad. Pop'd the hood and i could see the smoke comming out of the engine bay underneath the hood. Struggled to find a flash light and when i came back out i didn't see it smoking from anywhere. Does transmission fluid smell the same as Oil when its being burned? Anyone have the problem before? Tomorrow i am going to put it up on some jack stands and run some good old Mobil 1. The car has 53K miles on it for a 99. Transmission was just flushed and filled at 51K along with coolant.. I don't think that going in reverse would cause it to make it worse. Somthing is fishy here..I am a total neat freak about how my engine bay looks clean wise, but since winter is here, i have slacked off in that dept as well... man i just don't know. I've worked my panties all up in a bunch here over it... Valve cover gasket has been replaced once.. i just hope its not the head gasket. I'm not in any mood to tear this thing down.

sounds like you may have a heater core leak.

My windows don't fog up when i start my car though. Thats whats keeping me from thinking that thats the problem... going out to buy the oil now and i'll see what i can find..

Ok i figured out my problem i think. I found a piece of some sort of tape sitting ontop of the exhaust pipe. Looks almost like it was some sort of hockey tape that has a mesh design to it. It also reaks of the nasty smell i was getting. Changed the oil and now i just have to contend with the oil burning smell for the next couple of days before i find out if that was the problem. I wiped down everything extremly well and got all the old oil residue off the engine parts.. hopefully this is the problem.

i would have said heater core... but i got beat to it... :(

Well when i had a really bad smell i found my power stearing line was broke and it was leaking onto my header, and that smoked, also smelt like oil.

Well.. the only residue i could find on anything was the remains of oil from removing the Oil filter. I wiped everything off as best as i could. There has been no drippings onto my driveway. I just had an intermediate steering shaft replaced under warrenty and they checked everything out there. I am truely thinking its that black piece of tape that was stuck on there. I should go light it on fire and see if it makes the same smell... LOL..