burning smell

[gbeach]

i have a 2000 caravan 3.3 liter. i have a smell which i cannot trace.
it is definitely on driver side. but i can't tell if it's brake or transmission fluid. the smell is very strong. i know my rotors are warped, but brakes are brand new. also have changed trans. fluid and filter. master cylinder seems to have a slight leak, but nothing on the ground. any ideas. i do have 188k on car, but has been running fine.

[HeadlessHorseman]

Whenever new pads are installed, there is often a smell that comes from the pads themselves as they "seat" on the rotors. This is because prior to seating, pads do not fully contact the rotors and the areas of the pads that do get abnormally hot. This is normal for properly turned or new rotors and could last anywhere from a few days to a week or 10 days of of normal in-city driving.

Warped rotors, however, will make matters worse and wear out your pads much sooner than normal. Warped rotors are also less efficient to brake your vehicle, tend to overheat pads and produce more smell. Hotter pads for extended periods of time can fail and come apart where the pads detach from their stamped steel backings... causing accidents.

At this point, you may have to replace your rotors (AND pads again). Better get this done before a small problem becomes a potential life-threatening situation.

[gbeach]

Originally Posted by HeadlessHorseman

Whenever new pads are installed, there is often a smell that comes from the pads themselves as they "seat" on the rotors. This is because prior to seating, pads do not fully contact the rotors and the areas of the pads that do get abnormally hot. This is normal for properly turned or new rotors and could last anywhere from a few days to a week or 10 days of of normal in-city driving.

Warped rotors, however, will make matters worse and wear out your pads much sooner than normal. Warped rotors are also less efficient to brake your vehicle, tend to overheat pads and produce more smell. Hotter pads for extended periods of time can fail and come apart where the pads detach from their stamped steel backings... causing accidents.

At this point, you may have to replace your rotors (AND pads again). Better get this done before a small problem becomes a potential life-threatening situation.

Headless horseman, i noticed you had close to the same problem i had.
when i push the brakes down while idling, my idle goes up. i think i have a small leak at master cylinder. my friend thinks brake booster. note i do not have the smell on passenger side. i am now convinced smell is either pads or brake fluid. did you fix the brake problem you had

[HeadlessHorseman]

It sounds like you may have low pressure in the brake system or low vacuum at the power assist (the master cylinder is bolted onto this) at idle and some on-board computer is trying to compensate for the shortfall(s) by increasing RPMs.

I really don't know for sure.

If it's a brake fluid problem, I would think that you'd see it dropping onto the driveway, running down the side of a tire, some wetness around the calipers or on the exhaust manifold somewhere near the master cylinder... because brake fluid doesn't smell unless it burns and I would think the only places it can burn is on the exhaust manifold or on the rotors. When it burns, there is usually a little smoke too.

Just out of curiosity, have you checked to see if there any error codes?

[gbeach]

Originally Posted by HeadlessHorseman

It sounds like you may have low pressure in the brake system or low vacuum at the power assist (the master cylinder is bolted onto this) at idle and some on-board computer is trying to compensate for the shortfall(s) by increasing RPMs.

I really don't know for sure.

If it's a brake fluid problem, I would think that you'd see it dropping onto the driveway, running down the side of a tire, some wetness around the calipers or on the exhaust manifold somewhere near the master cylinder... because brake fluid doesn't smell unless it burns and I would think the only places it can burn is on the exhaust manifold or on the rotors. When it burns, there is usually a little smoke too.

Just out of curiosity, have you checked to see if there any error codes?

thanks for replying. no haven't checked codes. i definitely have a small leak at master cylinder. i am going to bleed and check rotors this wkend
because i do have a smell at the rotors, but no leaks. so i think i have more than one problem. what makes me lean to master cylinder is after i changed front pads, about 2 months later the fluid was below the min. and the brake light was coming on, which my wife did not tell me about.
normal wear on the pads would not have dropped it that much. i definitely know rotors are bad. so i'll go from there. thanks for response

[somick]

Originally Posted by gbeach

H
when i push the brakes down while idling, my idle goes up.

This is normal. The vacuum is used by the engine to control different devices, relays etc. The power brakes use the vacuum to push on the brake cylinder rod. The RPMs increase to compensate for the loss of the vacuum.

Sam

[gbeach]

Originally Posted by semyonlibman

This is normal. The vacuum is used by the engine to control different devices, relays etc. The power brakes use the vacuum to push on the brake cylinder rod. The RPMs increase to comensate for the loss of the vacuum.

Sam

thanks