Burned rubber smell
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Junior Member
Joined: Jun 2008
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Burned rubber smell
Hi,
we have a 2007 XC90 3.2 AWD. A few weeks ago, when we stopped after a 10-mile drive, the car had a strong smell of burned rubber.
Went back home, car was still smelling, looked for the obvious (plastic bag stuck on the exhaust), but could not find anything.
Couple of days later, car was getting better but still smelling in an unusual way so I put it on the ramps, looked very carefully underneath, even removed the engine splash guard at the bottom: nothing.
A week goes by, still smelling. Then likely my and my wife's imagination kicked in, but we both independently felt the car to be a little sluggish in acceleration, so decided to take it to Volvo: they did a quick test drive, found nothing unusual, smell was not noticeable (outside, if you drive and park in the garage, you still smell it) and sent me home telling not to worry.
Now, I know these cars throw Check Engine Light codes for about anything, I know it's probably nothing, yet the car still smells like it never did.
I tried to leave the engine running at idle for a while, and there was no smell, which could mean that:
- something is really stuck on the exhaust, but needs to exhaust to get very hot to smell
- it's something related to motion, like axles, wheels, brakes
Despite having a rather large nose, I could not pinpoint where this smell is coming from.
Has anyone experienced anything similar? It's driving me crazy...
Thanks in advance!
we have a 2007 XC90 3.2 AWD. A few weeks ago, when we stopped after a 10-mile drive, the car had a strong smell of burned rubber.
Went back home, car was still smelling, looked for the obvious (plastic bag stuck on the exhaust), but could not find anything.
Couple of days later, car was getting better but still smelling in an unusual way so I put it on the ramps, looked very carefully underneath, even removed the engine splash guard at the bottom: nothing.
A week goes by, still smelling. Then likely my and my wife's imagination kicked in, but we both independently felt the car to be a little sluggish in acceleration, so decided to take it to Volvo: they did a quick test drive, found nothing unusual, smell was not noticeable (outside, if you drive and park in the garage, you still smell it) and sent me home telling not to worry.
Now, I know these cars throw Check Engine Light codes for about anything, I know it's probably nothing, yet the car still smells like it never did.
I tried to leave the engine running at idle for a while, and there was no smell, which could mean that:
- something is really stuck on the exhaust, but needs to exhaust to get very hot to smell
- it's something related to motion, like axles, wheels, brakes
Despite having a rather large nose, I could not pinpoint where this smell is coming from.
Has anyone experienced anything similar? It's driving me crazy...
Thanks in advance!
Senior Member
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 5,340
Likes: 14
From: IPS, MA
RE: Burned rubber smell
Welcome to the forum.
>Despite having a rather large nose,
That's a good one
.
As to the smell, I know it's troublesome but once again do a visual inspection in the engine bay. Pay attention to electrical wires/sheath, plastic induction hoses/pipes, cooling system hoses, etc... If you smelled it so obviously, look around the engine block/head/exhaust manifold area.
If you suspect the exhaust, pay attention to the manifold to catalytic converter. By the time the spent gas reaches the muffler, it would not be hot enough to burn rubber/plastic.
Also, try smelling around the wheels after a drive. If the brakes are grabbing even slightly, it would make the wheels hot enough to cause the tyres to smell.
Lastly, post this in General Volvo Chat. The XC90 forum seems very slow and I myself do not have sufficient knowledge to properly troubleshoot them.
JPN
>Despite having a rather large nose,
That's a good one
.As to the smell, I know it's troublesome but once again do a visual inspection in the engine bay. Pay attention to electrical wires/sheath, plastic induction hoses/pipes, cooling system hoses, etc... If you smelled it so obviously, look around the engine block/head/exhaust manifold area.
If you suspect the exhaust, pay attention to the manifold to catalytic converter. By the time the spent gas reaches the muffler, it would not be hot enough to burn rubber/plastic.
Also, try smelling around the wheels after a drive. If the brakes are grabbing even slightly, it would make the wheels hot enough to cause the tyres to smell.
Lastly, post this in General Volvo Chat. The XC90 forum seems very slow and I myself do not have sufficient knowledge to properly troubleshoot them.
JPN
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