"Hot" smell coming from alternator

[TopGearSolutions]

Originally Posted by Area86

Started noticing a weird smell coming through my vents and my battery light was randomly flickering so I took a look under the hood and found this

[EastBayCanuck]

Originally Posted by jhh3000

i get a burning smell if i have been cruising a good amount of time on the highway (e.g., 30+ minutes), have the vents open to fresh air (not recirculation), and come up to a stoplight immediately. at first, i attributed it to improper clutch work and me burning the clutch when i downshift when getting off the highway, but maybe this could also be a factor... i don't know, i had an old integra before this car that would do the exact same thing, so my thought is still improper clutch work.

what do you guys drive? autos / manuals??

This is actually very similar to what I experience, and I drive an auto so may not be your clutch. I get it after driving in to work 20 miles or so highway then come to a stop light after getting off the highway. That's when I smell it the most.

[iRep8OH8]

sub'd @12k miles and I get this burning smell every once in a while coming home from work, windows down and vents open. I notice it'll usually occur when I'm in 6th gear on a slight hill, and when I'm in 5th it's fine. I have an auto and it started doing this when I kept it in drive, so before I reach that area, I usually shift into manual mode and downshift. Still curious what the smell, hope this smell gets figured out!

[swilliams]

Originally Posted by jhh3000

i get a burning smell if i have been cruising a good amount of time on the highway (e.g., 30+ minutes), have the vents open to fresh air (not recirculation), and come up to a stoplight immediately. at first, i attributed it to improper clutch work and me burning the clutch when i downshift when getting off the highway, but maybe this could also be a factor... i don't know, i had an old integra before this car that would do the exact same thing, so my thought is still improper clutch work.

what do you guys drive? autos / manuals??

Same here! It's driving me mad. I'm at 17K miles (manual trans) and just started smelling this on the first warm day this winter. I thought maybe the hot/cold cycling caused the dreaded "metal plate" leak but mine is completely dry.

Like you said, it's a burning smell that comes into the cabin after I've been driving on the highway for 15-30 mins and then come to a complete stop. There's no clutch work; I shift into neutral and coast. So it can't be my poor clutch work! But I feel like it does smell like burning clutch. Anyone else think so? I'm a poor judge of clutch smell.

I DID adjust my clutch pedal travel, but that was several thousand miles ago and never smelled this. I smelled around under the hood today with the car off and couldn't smell it. Next I'll smell around while the car's running and up to operating temp.

[PWBRZ]

Add me to the list -- I'm at 11k miles (manual trans). And my metal plate and exhaust pipe are clean/clear. The smell appears to be coming from the vents, and as others have mentioned, it seems to be more noticeable when the vehicle is stopped. Sure would be nice if it could be reliably reproduced. Will keep smellin' and searchin'

[PantsDants]

For the record, I just brought my car in for its second service and had them investigate the oil smell I was getting after freeway driving. The tech was able to reproduce it and noted it down, but didn't find any leaks of any sort. My service advisor mentioned that he had another FR-S in for the same thing and that maybe these little boxer motors are just smelly; something about oil bypass valves, blah blah.

I'm not going to worry about it now that it's at least documented in the car's service history.

[csjcsj]

Same here also! It's not everyday but I do get the occasional burning rubber smell! 4800 miles!

[jonbonazza]

Originally Posted by Hakuzen

I get a hot rubbery smell through my vents every once in awhile, its usually faint and goes away pretty quick.. Was hoping it was normal =\ It only happens every once in awhile when the car has been running for awhile, so its pretty tough to reproduce for a dealer tech

I get it too, except mine generally happens when the car is started on a cold morning and goes away after a few seconds.

[aaronosaurus]

I've noticed the same smell. Just as another data point, do any of you play loud music or use seat heaters when noticing this? Because of this crappy winter I've had my drivers seat heater on full since November, and I'm sure that will pull lots of power and put a high load on that alternator.

[rawbz]

Originally Posted by aaronosaurus

I've noticed the same smell. Just as another data point, do any of you play loud music or use seat heaters when noticing this? Because of this crappy winter I've had my drivers seat heater on full since November, and I'm sure that will pull lots of power and put a high load on that alternator.

Generally I do play loud music with heated seats on and everything but I've never experienced a car where the alternator got so hot it was causing a burning smell?

For anyone else that does experience this again, pop the hood and sniff around and see if you can isolate the smell to your alternator as well. I'm pretty sure it was the source the last time this happened to me but I haven't had the right conditions to reproduce it again myself.

[Vince526BRZ]

I get a similar burning smell. At first I though it was antifreeze / radiator smell, but now I think it's more like what folks on here are describing.


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[Lytheum]

i get this too! just over 28k miles now and have been getting this randomly. its a faint burning rubbery smell. i only notice it while the car is stationary after a long highway drive. usually goes away after a few minutes.

[Vince526BRZ]

Excellent description and exactly when it happens with mine!!


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[exE36M3]

I FOUND THE SOURCE...

Run your fingers under the belt cover of the alternator and the ac compressor.
You'll find rubber/belt residue.

The smell is from the rubber powdering onto the catalytic convertor - which is REALLY close to the serpentine belt.
And or the catalytic convertor cooking the belt.

Next time you take a drive and smell the burned rubber smell... pop the hood and smell the belt. That's it.