Prius (2004-09) :: Burning Smell - Smoke Coming From Back Of Engine
Feb 10, 2016
I've got an 08 Gen II with 173k miles on it. The last few days of coming up the huge hill in front of our house I've noticed a burning smell, link burnt coolant.
So today I actually popped the hood to investigate and found a small tuff of smoke coming from the back of the engine.
After climbing underneath I found a leak of some sort of brown/cream fluid.. Kinda scary color. Anyways it seems when put a significant load on the car going up a hill it sprays this fluid on the exhaust, thus the burning smell..
Oil is clean on the stick and under the cap.
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Took about a 200 mile trip this weekend, stopped at a rest area about halfway through and smelled burnt carbon, smelled like a burnt clutch almost. It was very strong and there was smoke coming from the engine. It wasn't a lot but it was cause for concern. I checked the oil, last oil change about 1500 miles ago but no problems there, temp gauge was in the middle. Let the car sit for a 10 mins or so and then headed of again. When I got home that night, couldn't smell it and there was no smoke. Car has 42K ... Also, I got an airbag fault light about 30 mins from my house.
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I can smell burning oil and when stopped see oil smoke coming from the right front area. Theres absolutely no fluid on the ground ever even after sitting for days. I cant visually see any oil leak on the engine but I cant see the back. Im guessing its a valve cover leaking just enough on top of the exhaust on that side. Ive seen the gasket/plug seal set from $25 to $80. Some include the timing chain area gaskets/seals. Is that necessary to change at same time? Also, is there a gasket where the intake manifold and valve cover meet needing changed along with?
2004 Passat 2.8l V6 GLX
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I purchased a Certified Pre-owned 2008 Lexus LS 460 in January 2011 with 29,000 miles. On April 2, 2011 I was parking my car and smelled wires burning and then saw smoke coming out of the hood. I immediately cut the engine, got my kids to safety and called 911. The firemen threw water on the engine and disconnected battery. It was towed to a local Lexus dealer and has been there since. They believe it was the starter, but the repairs as of yet are not complete. I submitted a claim with headquarters to give me my money back or a comparable vehicle. I am concerned about the safety of this vehicle and any residual chemicals and smoke that may remain with the vehicle.
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I just had my van inspected and tires rotated...van sits for a few days then travels 20 miles and am now smelling something burning and smoke is coming out from front right tire. Other discussions say calipers/pads and that's ok BUT my question is since my van only has @24,000 on it, did the mechanic do something when he rotated my tires? I am a senior citizen and only use my van once a week.
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I have a 2002 ford f350 triton 5.4 V8. I just put front brake pads on my truck today. Started driving around and i could smell burning brakes. Stopped and alot of smoke was coming from my brakes on my front passenger side but nothing from the front drivers side. Replaced all the brake pads on the front. What is making them so hot?
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We have a 2015 Santa Fe Sport AWD (without turbo). It has about 4,200 miles on it. Recently my wife complained about a burning smell that she hadn't noticed previously.
I drove it and noticed the smell. Pulled into our garage and left the engine running and noticed a minor, but noticeable amount of smoke coming out from the hood on the passenger side. When I opened the hood it appeared the smoke was coming from the lower, back side of the engine.
I later went out and started the car and let it idle for a bit. Didn't notice any burning smell or smoke. Later drove it again and noticed the smell and a little smoke. So it seems like it occurs when the car has been driven rather than simply started and not driven.
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I have a 2004 prius with about 350k miles on it, bought it about a year ago and we have had our first trouble with it (it's been great so far, and when you consider it's mileage, pretty impressive).
We were driving along and a constant alarm started (beeeeep!!!) and lights on the dash lit up. I assumed it was cranky because the rear hatch wasn't closed or something and kept driving (we didn't have far to go). It wasn't long before smoke with a distinctive burnt electronics smell started coming up from the dash at the front left lower corner of the windshield. Then the brakes started to feel very unresponsive and sluggish (no regenerative braking either). She still runs and drives. So here is where I am now:
The car screams constantly and the brake light, ABS light and the (!) light are all lit.
I've been poking about and figured out that my inverter coolant pump isn't working properly. At this point I am wondering if this is just pure coincidence though (i.e. perhaps its not been working for awhile). I will be replacing this soon.
I checked the error codes and they all seemed to be un-related and or old (catalytic converter not working properly, ran out of fuel, etc). I cleared them and no new ones are populating. (car has only been driven around the block 3 times though)
The 12 V battery seems to be working fine, and it's getting the proper charging voltage. (voltage tested through the console under various conditions)
I have reset the braking system (bridging the #4 and #13 pins thing) and this turned the buzzer and lights off for about 20 seconds. Still no proper brakes. And of course the noise and lights just come back. Still no error codes via my Bluetooth reader and smartphone.
I have my doubts that replacing the inverter pump will fix this brake issue. I am familiar with working on cars, but this is my first foray with 1) a modern car and 2) a Prius. (Previous cars are all mid 90s or older, so I'm a little bit overwhelmed here...)
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117,000 miles, 1 previous corporate car owner, 30 day warrant. Bought 1 week ago, odor of burnt electrical. Seems to be stronger in the back inside.
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My wife was complaining of white smoke coming from the back of the car and that she smelled gasoline. So I took her 1999 Nissan Maxima to the shop and they put it on the machine and told me that the ignition rod was stuck open and that gasoline was leaking into the engine. They also said that it was not safet to drive. What an ignition rod is and why the car is not safe to drive? The car's value is questionable at this point.
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I was driving around running errands when my AC stopped blowing cool air, a funny kind of "metallic" burning smell was coming from the engine, and there was a slight knocking noise that was apparently coming from the engine and would go faster as I accelerated.
My car is still under warranty so I know stuff will be covered. My question is : what the heck is going on with my Santa Fe? I need to know whether I should call into work or drive it anyways.
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I recently noticed that my car was starting to smell like oil burning off. Soon i realized that from time to time there would be a bit of smoke form under the hood I looked under the car and noticed that oil is dripping onto the cat but i am not sure from where. There is not alot of room in the back of these engines to see.
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I don't know much about cars. I have a 99 Mercedes e-320 and I started smelling a burning, but when I opened the hood, there wasn't any smoke. What could it be and is it still safe to drive?
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So yesterday I was on my way home from work, and I had smelled a little burning and then I saw smoke from the steering column???? i pulled over and it had stopped no lights came up? the car is fine now..? I don't know whats going on?
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So I took off today and my friend behind me in his ford ranger was telling me my car smelled like ish, and there was a lof of black smoke coming out my exhaust.....
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Today was the first day I notice smoke from the wheel well, it wasn't heavy smoke but enough to caught my eye. The past few days I been smelling burning oil from that side of the car. I am not leaking oil from the motor because I check it everyday. Why it would smell and be smoking from the wheel well?
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I have 2003 Hyundai Tiburon 5 Speed. Today my wife was driving it and out of no where the car would not pick up speed like normal. we cam shift all the gears normal and the rpms go up but the speed takes time to get up there. When we parked the car i opened the hood and notice a smell and some smoke coming from under the engine block going to see a mechanic his week but what it could be.
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Okay so basically I was driving today when I noticed the smell of burnt toast. Didn't think anything of it so when I turned off my R I noticed some faint white smoke coming from my engine bay. It appears that the smoke is coming from the left side of the engine, when I pop off my engine covers, there are two hoses (one going to air intake/one going into intake manifold). It looks like its coming from either one of those hoses or somewhere below. I don't see any leaking fluids or anything.
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2002 Santa Fe V6
Ran the AC yesterday for the first time after a long cold winter. Seemed fine for about 15 miles but then I came to a stop and all of the sudden smelled burning plastic/electrical... white smoke started blowing out of the vents. Pulled over, popped the hood. The smoke appeared to be coming from the passenger/rear side of the engine.
Drove it another 15 miles home (had to) but with no AC or even fan on... made it and noticed the smell and smoke but only very little.
This morning I started it up .. got under the hood and clearly can smell it coming from the same area. That is the alternator at the back of the engine passenger side right? Voltages read fine... seems to be charging ok as well.
The only indicator that it is going bad is of course the smell and smoke... I can feel it is getting very hot.. too hot to touch after only a few minutes running. Spun bearings in it maybe? Just thought I'd put that out there before I start tearing it apart.
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Yesterday I made a 3 hour round trip with my car, and on the last leg coming back into town, I noticed my check engine light came on, and I saw white smoke coming from underneath the hood of my car, along with a burning smell. Luckily I was able to make it home just fine. I've googled this issue, some people have suggested coolant leak.
Also, I checked the oil levels today and they appeared to be slightly below the lowest level tick, which could be why it was having issues yesterday. Last time I got an oil change was November of 2015. I'm surprised it's this low considering I normally don't commute farther than a couple miles each day.
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I have a 93 Aerostar RWD 4.0L that I was driving around town a few weeks ago and I noticed it wasn't braking that well. The pedal is usually firm but easy to push and very sensitive...instead it was a lot firmer and didn't brake as quickly when i put my foot down. The van itself felt a little under powered, like something was holding it back and I had to put my foot down a lot more to get it up to speed. After awhile I began getting a really bad burning smell coming in through the driver window. I pulled over and saw small faint lines of smoke coming out of the front driver side wheel well, upon closer inspection I got a good wiff of burnt brake pad (I am familiar with the scent) and the hub cap on the wheel was really hot. I automatically assumed the caliper was ceased.
Later when I had free time took the wheel off removed the caliper from the wheel and everything looked fine. I was able to push the piston back in with ease using a C-clamp, but there was a lot of corrosion in and around the piston, I wire brushed it off and greased and cleaned everything up. I took it out since then on a few short trips to the store, everything seemed fine. Today however it happened again, and I began smelling burnt brake pad from the same wheel well. It only seems to happen when I have been driving it for a long time like 30mins to 1hr, short trips everything is fine. Is this the caliper or the Master cylinder? Due to the excessive heat around the wheel hub should i maybe think about replacing the inner and outer wheel bearings as well?
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