Smell on hands after driving?

[chaoskaze]

or maybe op is burning his clutch all the time..........hmmmmm

[PetrolioBenzina]

Is tracking your car with a stinky wheel abuse?

[LancePower]

Stink palm?

[Lakitu]

Originally Posted by chaoskaze

or maybe op is burning his clutch all the time..........hmmmmm

I was thinking that maybe since I'm a beginner driver this can definitely be a probable case! However, I am also under the impression that in order to burn a clutch you'd REALLY have to be letting the clutch roast on the flywheel for a good minute before you start to smell (and see) the burning, no? I may be a beginner, but I feel confident enough to say I'm not -that- bad. I spend no more than 1 second maneuvering the clutch between shifts, and my connects are 95% seamless/non-jerky. I'm also always in neutral at stops, so definitely not riding or teeter-tottering as well.

[funwheeldrive]

Originally Posted by Lakitu

I was thinking that maybe since I'm a beginner driver this can definitely be a probable case! However, I am also under the impression that in order to burn a clutch you'd REALLY have to be letting the clutch roast on the flywheel for a good minute before you start to smell (and see) the burning, no? I may be a beginner, but I feel confident enough to say I'm not -that- bad. I spend no more than 1 second maneuvering the clutch between shifts, and my connects are 95% seamless/non-jerky. I'm also always in neutral at stops, so definitely not riding or teeter-tottering as well.

You don't rest your foot on the clutch pedal while cruising around right?

[JD001]

Originally Posted by funwheeldrive

You don't rest your foot on the clutch pedal while cruising around right?

And resting your hand on your knob..

[PetrolioBenzina]

Originally Posted by LancePower

Stink palm?

LOL.

[PetrolioBenzina]

OP, can you better describe what it smells like and under what conditions you first smell it?

Wash hands after using restroom before returning to driving.

[Lakitu]

Originally Posted by funwheeldrive

You don't rest your foot on the clutch pedal while cruising around right?

Nope. Foot is on dead pedal.

Originally Posted by JD001

And resting your hand on your knob..

Nope. Both hands on steering wheel.

[Lakitu]

Originally Posted by PetrolioBenzina

OP, can you better describe what it smells like and under what conditions you first smell it?

Wash hands after using restroom before returning to driving.

I can't explain what it smells like too well, but I can say what it doesn't.

On the back of my hand:
- Not sweet, like fruit, candy, syrup
- Not pleasing like perfume, fabric softener, lotion, deodorant, febreeze
- Not strong like burnt electronics/pcb, metals, rubber
- Not stinky like sewerage, excretion, rotten food/drink
- Not smoky like wood, charcoal, fire
- Not chemical like oil, gasoline, cleaning spray, soap, hand sanitizer
- Somewhat faintly burnt material smell on skin

From vents:
- Somewhat earthy, like hot dirt, damp wood, old water that has been in contact with wood
- Somewhat like hot sandpaper

Maybe it is something factory just burning off, but my car is 15k miles at 9 months. How long does it actually take to burn off factory smells?

[chaoskaze]

the car was flooded before!......ok sorry bad joke.

But have you check with the dealer? XD

[Lakitu]

Some more notes on my stick driving ability:

- At lower gears (1-4) sometimes I can't quite feel the biting point of the clutch, I'll equally lift off the clutch pedal slowly simultaneously pushing in the throttle. This causes the sound of the engine to gradually decrease slightly then increase as the clutch becomes fully engaged. I can avoid this sound by faster clutch engaging, but that risks having too snappy of an engagement whereas the former is smooth. I've heard other drivers do this (the sound the engine makes is very audible - you can hear the engine tone gradually decrease then increase). Is this a bad practice?

- My downshifts are shamefully not always clean. Clutch engagement can often feel like it does not want to bite when downshifting from 4 to 3, or 3 to 2 (btw: I never downshift to 1) even when being as slow as possible with the clutch, and then it will unexpectedly snap into place. You can feel it was a bit of a forceful engagement with a little car jerking and foot response from the pedal. I've observed that this happens ONLY at around 3100 rpms, and not less or higher. Seems that is an awkward rpm to downshift or upshift at in this car. This is something I'm working on as a driver, but I don't know if it could be related.

[Lakitu]

Originally Posted by chaoskaze

the car was flooded before!......ok sorry bad joke.

But have you check with the dealer? XD

Haven't checked yet, perhaps I'll bring it up to the dealer/mechanic next service in a few months.

[DandoX]

Originally Posted by Lakitu

Haven't checked yet, perhaps I'll bring it up to the dealer/mechanic next service in a few months.

Did you check your in cabin air filter? If you smell that does it smell like your hands do?

If it does may make it more easy to show the dealer the smell your experiencing, if the problem is mold or something in your HVAC system or vent ways.

Do you keep your HVAC system on recirculate or air from the outside?