Severe clutch smell
 

Not riding or anything to mess up clutch and its raining so when i tirn on the heat i smell it therew the vents pretty bad? Mayb my clutxh is going up or the water is touching the heat

ive noticed a slight burning smell through the vents once in a while. it usually goes away quickly and ive never smelled anything outside the car. Almost 9k miles and no signs of slipping.

not sure if its the clutch or not...ive always heard it smells horrible and lingers for a while.

I think my clutch is starting to slip .. not sure though :/
apparntly my pops noticed some odd burning smell when he went for a drive with 86 I can't say I've noticed it

I have smelled this once and awhile and yes it is transmission or clutch related. The one time I smelt it the most was packing into a parking spot on an incline. The reverse gearing in this car is bad and to get the clutch out in reverse it wants to go 20 mph. So I had to ride the clutch a "little" bit because someone walked behind me while I was backing up and I smelled this smell. For me, I only smell it on those occasions and not sure if it is syncros burning or the clutch. If you smell this during daily driving you might want to get someone with a lot of manual driving experience to ride with you and watch your shifting style, you might be riding the clutch when shifting.

Also have this every now and then. I have a feeling the clutch is just very light and burns easy with any slipping. I am hoping there is not an issue with the clutch or transmission. I guess we will find out when people get more miles on them.

Have not gone in for my first inspection yet (5k miles atm) but when I take it in for crickets I will see if anyone else has had the issue.

To OP: Are you running the car in neutral before the car comes to a complete stop? Read somewhere on here that it can burn the fuel lines and that might be what you're smelling?

I keep getting unwanted visitors , rabbits , plastic bags , leaves and branches attaching to the exhaust pipes on my cars and making exciting smells.
So thoroughly check exhaust pipes b4 assuming clutch smell.

goes away after 4000 miles...

Nah i keep in gear till almost anout to stop

How does shifting into neutral when you are braking for a stop cause the fuel lines to burn. I don't think this is valid.

Thinking the same thing. Not a valid comment. You have been mis-informed

Glad I'm not the only one who thought this would be on the news if it was real..

I've also been getting this smell. Only noticed it when I adjusted my clutch and installed an aftermarket catback

is this smell actually the smell of the clutch or the smell that people say it's the coating and will go away after awhile?

Yeah I kinda know what you mean .. I might just start heel-toeing the reverse Lol

I have 4k miles on mine right now. The smell only happens when I have to ride the clutch backing up because the gearing is terrible on the reverse. I would say happens once every 1/200 times and only on an incline. In normal driving, not reversing up a hill, I don't smell this smell at all.

There are certain smells you will smell in the beginning of valve's seating themselves and possible coatings and oils burning off but this is not the smell we are smelling. This smell is a burning metal like smell. If you smell this during normal driving you are not shifting correctly or riding the clutch or your car has some mechanical problem. I would suggest people get a very experienced manual transmission driver to shadow them and see if they are driving incorrectly.

I said smell a lot..... :)

i had this smell when i first started driving the car... it was horrible. Some people told me maybe the clutch needs a break-in time for it to work properly. 100 miles now and the smell is less significant. I smell a little bit of it if i got out the car after a drive and sniffed the exhaust area a bit (probably because im a lil paranoid about burning/killing the clutch) but otherwise... it seems to be getting better.

The clutch does need break in time, but you will occasionally still smell it because the pressure plate for the stock clutch is very lightly sprung so it's more prone to slipping when not fully engaged. This makes the car easier to drive, but also easier to slip and cook a little clutch material. I have a 6 puck clutch in mine now and I don't get any burning smells (ceramic pucks don't really burn) but it is much more aggressive and not exactly smooth from slow speed starts.

I tend to only smell it during stop and go traffic on hills.

I'm getting an occasional light burning smell through the heat vents. No idea what a burning clutch smells like, but I once had a sticking brake pad and it smells kind of like that but much fainter.
In order to smell it I need to have the heat on for a good 25 minutes at least. Vehicle must be idling and stationary. Car can be in neutral with clutch engaged or in 1st gear with clutch disengaged, doesn't make any difference. Best chance is after a hilly bit of road for some reason.

I wasn't too worried until I read this thread. Sound like the same thing you guys are experiencing?

Well Kevin, I could only say this

have you considered your undercoat burning excess gunk off through the vents before thinking of your clutch?

your welcome ;)

What does the clutch smell like? (lol)
Rotten eggs?

Like Mac1235, I did smell it couple time when I park mine on an incline. Normal driving is fine. The smell is like metal burning smell.

Yeah it 100% the clutch slipping and the burning of the two plates spinning against each other instead of locking into one another and driving the car. Unfortunately with the way this car is geared for reverse there almost has to be some slipping when backing into certain situations.

I am still smelling it on occasion,but its not as bad as it was when the car was new.i have 6k on it now and I really have to "smell" for it.

One thing is for sure,its very hot under the hood of these cars,Like others have stated,its probably oils/paints/coating and such.It was much worse when it was hotter out,once november hit,I did not notice the vent smell as much.

I think there are some smells from coatings burning off but by 6k miles those are gone, if the smell is metallic, then it is the clutch slipping and burning. I think that is what we are smelling from what I read from others.

Update on my burning smell:

Took it to the dealership to have a look. They believe it is a clutch in the AC compressor and have ordered a part. Apparently the compressor was misbehaving. I'll update again once it is installed.

I've smelled the same on mine but only after high speed runs, like 10+minutes at over 90 mph. I have 12k miles on it.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cj2rxFS0qDQ"]The Smelly Smell that Smells Smelly (HD) - YouTube[/ame]

Everyone talking about smells made me think of this.

I smelled this when I test drove an frs (9miles on odo ) salesmen said..thats the car breaking in..bullspit!

It's pretty much accepted that there are coatings and oils on a lot of the mechanical parts to protect the metal as it gets shipped that "burns away" when the car gets heat cycled. I smelled it the first ~200 miles and now it's much less noticeable (at about 520 miles).

If you know something the rest of us don't please share!

It was the clutch I smelled..burnt cluch..drove it hard (test drive 5miles on it) I wasnt getting that one..it was black..white is my color..but yeaaa burnt clutch lol

Can you tell me which dealership you use for service??

Thanks,

Bryce.

Szott M-59 Toyota in Waterford.

Sales experience was awful. I'll report back on the service dept after they do the install on Friday.

edit: Service dept seems okay. No problems yet but I do have a half dozen other small issues that they are waiting on parts for. I reserve the right to change my mind at a later date.

I just had this happen for the first time on my 14,500 mile car so the 4,000 mile thing isn't true at all. It did happen to be raining.

I'll add my name to the list.

Only starting off in 1st gear, odd smell through the vents. I haven't been paying as much attention to the conditions when it happens but now i will.

Had the new compressor for a week. The lovely burning smell is still there.
Waiting for some other parts to arrive before the car goes back for a second attempt to cure. I'll update if they ever figure it out.

I tend to only get the burning clutch smell when I'm in traffic on a hill. I've tried all sorts of different methods to avoid burning but no matter what I still get the smell.

I've only smelled it when @Ayaz2589 was driving LOL

It's just part of the break in for the new clutch. Mine did it a lot at first being a Student Driver car but has now completely stopped. I quit noticing the smell around 4500km.