Burnt smell after engine is off
 

Hey all,

Quick question, I have an frs with almost 90,000 kms on it. Bought it used and have been loving it. After I stop the engine there's a pretty nasty burning smell. Happens all the time, if i've driven it hard, or taken it easy. I've looked at the overpipe to make sure there was no oil leaking out of the stock cam plate. It was totally clean. Oil levels haven't dropped at all. I'm wondering if there are any other problematic areas I should be looking at. There are also 0 leaks forming on my garage floor.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

If you think it may be oil then there are several known leak areas.
This shows the most common:


http://www.ft86club.com/forums/attac...1&d=1413834741

Also remember it may have leaked prior to you buying it, been fixed and engine cleaned up. But there may be residue on the exhaust still, causing the smell. Admittedly this is unlikely, but certainly a possibility.

Hello be_ha and welcome to ....... The Forum ....... :)

How many miles have you put on the car ..??

How long (how many miles) have you noticed the smell .. ??)

What's the last thing you did with the engine before you noticed the small .. ??

MT or AT .. ??

Does the smell ...... smell like antifreeze, or oil or electrical wiring or clutch (if you have one) or what .. ??

Come back.


humfrz

Thanks Tcoat, I'll take a look around.

Pat and humfrz, I've put on a bit under 5000 km, I imagine if there was residue on the exhaust it would have been burnt off long ago.

humfrz I've noticed the smell for awhile now, I can't say if it's since owning it, but for quite awhile. It's MT, so clutch is a possibility. With the cooler weather it isn't as bad, but it is still noticeable. I still haven't changed oil yet, as it was changed right before I bought it. I did change both the tranny and diff fluid with motul 300. That was at the end of July.

I don't know too much of the history of the vehicle, as I picked it up from a dealership. Shifting has always been an issue. After doing quite a bit of research online, I came to the conclusion that it was just he car. Having second thoughts though.

Second gear has always been the toughest. Sometimes it will engage very easily without issue, others I won't even be able to get it in without forcing it too much. When that happens I'll just skip to third. I also get the slight clunk whenever the engine is on I disengage the clutch when the car is in neutral (doesn't happen when the engine isn't on). One other thing I've noticed is that when I do that (disengage the clutch while engine is on), if I'm not pressing the break the car will nudge forward (very slightly) right when the clutch would normally catch when in gear. Hope that makes sense.

Let me know if you have any other questions!

Thanks

i have experienced this a couple times on my car as well, esp after hard driving (6k shifting). I usually shift around 3-4k. MT with 24k miles on it. It disappears after a few mins. Haven't looked in detail, but no leaks on the floor. Will look into these locations the next time i crawl under my car for an oil change

Hmmmm........the smell may be coming from the clutch.

What I would suggest is that you bleed the clutch hydrolytic system and replace the fluid with new fluid. Also, check for leaks.

Then I would suggest you adjust the clutch.

See it that helps.

If not, I suggest you warm up the engine, set the emergency brake, place the car in second gear, rev the engine to about 3,000 rpm and then ........s-l-o-w-l-y let the clutch out. If the clutch is slipping, the engine won't die right away, if the clutch is good, the engine will die right away. If the engine continues to run and you smell "that smell" ...... your clutch is on its way out ..... :sigh:


humfrz

My guess would be blow by from the PCV or crankcase. The smell is more noticeable now to me after venting the crank case into atmosphere instead of going into the intake tube. Check your intake tube for any oil residue.

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Hey @humfrz ,

When you say adjust the clutch do you mean the pedal?

basically this guy?

http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=8040

I did adjust the clutch pedal so it's closer to the driver (farther from the engine). Now when it's fully depressed the clutch will disengage more? Shifts weren't as clunky after I took it for a quick spin, I'll be able to tell tomorrow morning when it's cool again.

@BRX I didn't notice any oil residue on the intake, I just put a CAI in and it looked clean.

In all honesty it smells more hot than chemically. If that makes any sense.

Then you're probably fine. All that heat building up after some hard driving will cause an odour even if it was N/A. If you can, monitor your oil temp. This usually happens to me when it reaches +205F.

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Yep, that's the adjustment I was referring to.

What you are trying to achieve is that when the clutch pedal is pushed all the way to the floor, it fully disengages (the pressure plate is no longer pushing the clutch disk against the flywheel). When you fully let up on the pedal, the clutch is fully engaged (the pressure plate is pushing the clutch disk against the flywheel with its full force.

Note: It's important to have a little "free play" in the clutch pedal travel when the clutch is fully engaged (let out all the way). In other words, when the clutch is fully released there should be a bit of distance in its downward travel before it starts to do anything.

Back in the day with mechanical clutch linkage ....... oh, never mind ....... :bonk:

I hope you get it working right ...... :)


humfrz

Check the cabin filter. It can cause some pretty funky odours you could be mistaking for "hot".

Thanks @Tcoat, I'll check that out as well. Smell is definitely coming from the engine bay, not the interior of the car. But I'll give it a go.

Ya that won't be it if you smell it outside of the car.

I had this once , and it was a plastic bag that had melted onto the top of the muffler on my camry. It was terrible during winter and eventually disappeared over the hot summer.
So check for anything stuck on top of the exhaust where you can't see it.

So adjusting the clutch pedal seems to have slightly fixed it. I've only been able to drive it a couple of times since pushing the pedal towards me. Switching into second gear also seems to be smoother as well.

One other issue I have noticed is when I'm sitting at a stop light, there's a slight grinding noise. Car is in neutral and clutch isn't being pressed. When I push the clutch in the noise goes away, when I release it the noise comes back. I've only noticed this a handful of times, maybe two or three. Is this the throw out bearing?

Thanks All!

That would be a good guess.

Another guess might be @Ultramaroon 's famous gear roll over ...... :iono:

He may not respond right away ...... he may be busy showing mrs @Tcoat where all the casinos are located.......:D


humfrz

Would any of this be covered at all by the drivetrain warranty? It's 5 years on this car is it not?

Yes, at least on a US 2013 FR-S, the powertrain warranty is 60 months/60,000 miles.

Would a bad TOB be covered .. ?? That would most likely depend on how the dealer is feeling that day......:iono:

Gear rollover sound is just gears rolling over ...... that's just what they do ..... ;)


humfrz

So I think I found the issue. Car has been parked for a month, I finally got around to changing the oil. I ended up taking the skid plate off as I wanted to install my short shifter as well. Anyways, I noticed a decent amount of oil build-up directly below the oil fill/oil filter area near the bottom of the engine. After doing a bit of research I've found that it could be the timing cover/valve cover leaking. Apparently it's a fairly common issue with this engine as well as other suby engines. I'll post pics tomorrow.

Glad you figured it out. A little oil will smell.
My dealership cross threaded my drain plug, which caused oil to leak on my engine. They fixed it the next day, but my car smelled like an old old Subaru for 2 years....

Check the link I gave you before. It will tell you how to fix it.

Here are some shots.

@Tcoat, do you know where the first image is on the car in the pdf you linked me? It says "left-hand camshaft cap".

Is that driver side or passenger? and if it's driver whereabouts would that bolt be?

First and third images are under the car (directly below the oil filter). Second image is behind the air intake box, again below the air filter.

Thanks!