Black smoke from engine compartment

[tommyt4r]

I was climbing a pretty steep grade, and buddy said 'just use 4H', so I did, about 10 minutes of climbing grassy, hill, a black smoke came out of the engine compartment. But it disappeared in about a minute. I went back into 4L, climbed the hill, no problem. Oil, clutch cylinder fluid, brake fluid levels all o.k.

Seemed like I was riding the clutch pretty hard in 4H....and I already knew that my '97 needs a new master clutch cylinder & slave cylinder....could it be the clutch? Smoke seemed black though, like rubber burning, or fluid burning...a belt could be a little squeakyer than before, I dunno, anybody experience this? Runner seems fine, been driving around town with no problem...weird.

 

[A.Wilson013]

If a clutch is burning enough to smoke, you'll smell it. God I hate that smell.

 

[Stockwell45]

Does sound like rubber burning to me. I had the boots to my rear shocks melt to the shock after hard wheeling, and it did produce a black smoke. Check CV's and steering rack boots to see if they are melted. Don't know why they would but at the very least that will eliminate them from being the suspect.

 

[tommyt4r]

Does sound like rubber burning to me. I had the boots to my rear shocks melt to the shock after hard wheeling, and it did produce a black smoke. Check CV's and steering rack boots to see if they are melted. Don't know why they would but at the very least that will eliminate them from being the suspect.

Hmmmm....i'll check, smoke disappeared real quick when I stopped....
Been a while since I ran a vehicle hard, and I think I would recall that stinky clutch smell....Before the climb, We did ford a creek, and smacked the skid plates kind of hard .... But there was no problem then.

I almost don't want to question it too much....it was a gift that we made it through the creek, and a huge bonus, later, when the rig stopped smoking! But yea, i'll check those things, thx.