98 camry--burning smell from hood

[rubs]

Hi,

For last few weeks whenever i drive the car i have burning smell coming from the hood.. everything except looks good...what can be the possible reson for this burning smell?

Thanks
--rubs

[amerikim]

Burning smell under hard acceleration or ???
It probably is oil burning. Had an oil change lately? Maybe some got on your manifold. Or you have an oil leak and it's dripping on the exhaust pipe.
Mine stinks too.......My cam cover gaskets are leaking.

[rubs]

I had oil change 2 months back and about 4k miles back...so what is the solution..should another oil change will fix this or i need to something else...

Thanks
--rubs

[amerikim]

Check under the area for the oil filter, clean it if there is oil. Occasionally when changing filters, they dont get seated right.
See if you can find your oil leak, then you can decide if you want to fix it if its bad enough.

[Cammy_01]

Originally Posted by rubs

I had oil change 2 months back and about 4k miles back...so what is the solution..should another oil change will fix this or i need to something else...

Thanks
--rubs

You are 1000 miles over your oil change interval.. most important thing you can do and if you do nothing else to the car keep the oil changed every 3k.. anything else can be fixed later or put off, but there is no safe way to remove sludge once it forms in the inside of the engine due to not changing the oil and the sludge plugs off oil passages eventually and things go down hill from there.

Hmmm, wonder if they can perform angioplasy on an engine's clogged oil passages.. they have got pretty good on humans

Change the oil and wipe everything down really well and see if the smell goes away.

[joey#1]

"You are 1000 miles over your oil change interval.."

This is not true. For cars sold in the U.S., the Toytoa recommended oil change interval is 5000 mi. if you drive on dirt roads, live in a freezing climate or tow heavy loads and for all other conditions it is 7,500 miles. It is true that these engines have a 8 year unlimited mile warranty because of engine oil related problems but it has not been proven that a shorter oil change will avoid the engine problems. There are plenty who changed their oil at 3000 miles and still had their engine go thanks to the sludge monster.

[Cammy_01]

Originally Posted by joey#1

"You are 1000 miles over your oil change interval.."

This is not true. For cars sold in the U.S., the Toytoa recommended oil change interval is 5000 mi. if you drive on dirt roads, live in a freezing climate or tow heavy loads and for all other conditions it is 7,500 miles. It is true that these engines have a 8 year unlimited mile warranty because of engine oil related problems but it has not been proven that a shorter oil change will avoid the engine problems. There are plenty who changed their oil at 3000 miles and still had their engine go thanks to the sludge monster.

There is always a caption somewhere in every manual of every manufacturer that I have ever seen where they say near or at the end "or extreme driving conditions change at 3000 miles" as a catch all statement, well.. guess what if you do any stop and go driving in traffic that is considered extreme.. when the oil changes colors that means the heat of the engine is slowly baking the engine oil to the insides of your engine which is where the sludge comes from. The longer you leave that oil in there the more the sludge forms. If you want to go that long without changing your oil, of course by all means, but if you care about your car then change it at 3000 miles or 4000 absolute max if you do quite a lot of highway driving.

[joey#1]

No caption in the manual for the 2000's. Pretty durn clear that 7,500 miles is what Toyo recommends for normal driving and 5,000 mi. only for the listed conditions. I wouldn't trust it though but that is what the manual says (check it out if you have one). Personally I recommend using nothing but synthetic oil. These engines were made to run hotter to cut down on emissions and it is cooking the oil. That is why Toytoa had to offer their policy to repair or replace sludged engines for 8 years on over 3 million of their cars, not just the Camry model. Synthetics can withstand the heat better.

[rubs]

I showed this to mechanic and he mentioned that a plastic bag got attached to mufler and it is causing burning smell and since this is directly under engine it apper as something is wrong in hood or with brakes. he mentioned there is no fix and this will melt on its own and not harmful to other parts of the car...

Thanks
--rubs

[Cammy_01]

Originally Posted by rubs

I showed this to mechanic and he mentioned that a plastic bag got attached to mufler and it is causing burning smell and since this is directly under engine it apper as something is wrong in hood or with brakes. he mentioned there is no fix and this will melt on its own and not harmful to other parts of the car...

Thanks
--rubs

Ahhh, very good.. glad to hear you dont have a problem. Yes, it will eventually burn off with no issues.

[Mike Gerber]

rubs,

I had this problem with my sister's Mazda MPV once. She called me up and said her car smells like it's burning after she runs it a few minutes. I went over and crawled under her car and noticed a plastic bag had stuck to her muffler. I scrapped most of it off with a putty knife and the smell went away completely a few days later. The putty knife or a gasket scrapper is something you might want to try if you are so inclined and want to speed up the process of getting rid of the smell more quickly. Those darn plastic bags; bad for the environment and bad for the exhaust system of our cars. LOL.

Mike