Anyone else notice a strange smell??
 

Ok so my new 2013 6spd frs is great but three times now I've smelled gear oil. I mean I SMELLED it. All three times I've been stopped at a light and had the windows up with the air on fresh. Only 275 miles on the odometer too... I haven't beat on the car and it wasn't after aggressive driving or launches. I have a degree in auto mechanics and have never had this come up before. I thought maybe just some fluid is burning off like new cars do but NOT a gear oil/lube smell. Any thoughts on this?

There is a thread on this, and it seems to be common.

It's normal.
My dealer told me there would be some burning smell during the first few hundred miles while you're breaking in the engine.
It eventually goes away.

It may just be new car residue burning off but you may also want to check around your engine. There is a known oil leak that occurs as described here:

http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=26197

That was my issue. The plate and the cap behind the plate need to be removed and re-sealed.

I remember a video from Dezoris where he found that there was actually an oil pan for the automatic transmission that isn't sealed correctly on manual transmission models. It leaks oil and smells badly.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...VsiTfvo#t=380s

Give it a look :)

Edit: ninja'd by the man himself! :)

Got to love that new car smell :lol:

Mine did that for a while when I had the AC on, seems to have dissipated after the first 1000km or so.

Gear oil smell = :barf::barf:

:happy0180:

Gear oil smell is a good sign:thumbsup: if you dont smell it that means they didn't lube your new baby and your driving dry.. Its part of the new car smell :lol: took me like 2/4 days to get that smell out:bonk:

Yeah I found that out myself when I drove the first few hundred miles on my FR-S. When I drove it straight home from the dealership, I saw smoke coming out of the hood. Apparently this is normal to burn off the excess rubber and residue.

Is it the rubber coating that's sprayed on the underbody that makes the smell? Or is it something in the exhaust?

I had some smell for the first hundred to two hundred miles. It should eventually go away. If it continues take it in to the dealership

Yea I drove it hard but not into redline for about a quarter tank today and it seems to have gone away. Had a guy in a black Mazda speed 3 try to race me but I don't street race so at a light he told me that he wanted a frs because its a sexy ass car lol.