Burning rubber smell right rear fender well.

[NoOneBetter]

I've got the smell too just like everyone else on my 15 TEP with ~30k miles. Smell just like burning tires.

 

[Georgiey22]

I've got this on my 2014 SR5. My wife actually mentioned the smell the other night as she was removing my son from his car seat on the pass. side. Seems to be no real answer yet. I will investigate in full. Def smells like hot rubber. I have done all my own maintenance, fluids, grease, etc. since day one. i will report back any findings. My guess is exhaust hangers heating up.

I moved my rubber hangers and it did not fix the issue.

 

[doxiedad]

I have a 2016 SR5 4x4. I notice a "hot" smell after doing moderate towing. (1500 lbs, flat. 80 degrees F)

I have 6K miles and I've noticed it since I started towing around 1.5K miles.

I don't know that I would describe it as a burning smell, more of a Hot metal smell. Definitely notice it around rear passenger side

 

[tacoyota]

I thought it was my aggressive driving with stock tires. It looks like I have the mysterious burning rubber smell also...on the right hand side of the vehicle after I park it.

 

[RoverGS]

I've experienced this rubber smell also. Now this may be way out there, but the only thing I could attribute it to when I noticed it was on a road in Illinois where the road surface was rough, and there was a pronounced crown to the road. It took a lot of left steering wheel pressure to keep truck straight along the road due to the crown in the road. The smell was quite pronounced when I stopped for fuel and I was really worried that a belt was worn or something was really going wrong.
Fast forward to later on in the day into another state where the road surface was smoother and not such a road crown, I no longer noticed the smell when stopped.
I just figured it was that fact I have a small lift, Cooper ST Maxx tires and the smell I was noticing was the rubber from the tires scrubbing at highway speeds on a crappy road with noticeable crown requiring corrective steering input.
Again, this may be way out there, but I haven't noticed it since then and I have 30k trouble free miles thus far.

 

[bglfgd]

To add to this thread, I also noticed the same burning smell near the passenger side rear wheel few weeks ago. It was dark outside and when I looked I noticed something​ was glowing red. Looked around a little further and it appeared to be something on top of the heat shield. The next morning I crawled under and looked around but couldn't find anything. One thought I had was it could had been grease from the drive shaft as I had just greased the zerks few days prior and some of the grease was splattered around. 2016 SR5 premium, stock.

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

 

[tral]

Mine started at 45k. Had tires rotated (rear cross) & aligned and after driving on highway I get this horid rubber smell in the RR. Parking break is not stuck and does not sRE. To be a stuck caliper. I tried to see if engine would creap with boat on back and it just tugged along.

I'm at a loss. Not gonna waste time at the dealership as it would likely take hours and replacing "stuff".

 

[TacoRunn0517]

Nice to know that this common. Just started noticing the smell within the last couple of weeks. I'm about to hit 18K and my TE brand new 5 months ago. I only notice when I'm driving aggressively. I drive aggressively most of the time haha.

 

[YotaOwner]

I experience the smell every day, as I drop my kids off at daycare. The daycare is on top of a hill, so I am always putting some load on the engine, then getting out, and going over to the rear pass side door to get my daughter out of her car seat.

Along with the smell, my muffler ticks, snaps, crackles, and pops like crazy, once the 4runner has been turned off. I have been under the 4runner many times with a flashlight, while the smell was occurring, but could never find anything on or around the exhaust or muffler that would cause this.

I have noticed the smell only occurs after I have put load on the 4runner, like driving through a parking garage, or driving up a hill. Out of curiosity, I measured the muffler's temp with an IR thermometer after driving up a hill, and it was around 320*F. During normal operation at idle it is around 215*F.

I have read threads on the FJ Cruiser forums about the same smell. One guy even cut open a muffler and this is what he found:

Thread: Anatomy of the OEM Muffler. - Toyota FJ Cruiser Forum

So after much obsession, I believe is normal, and most people just don't notice/care about it. Here is my conclusion on the smell.

1. The Smell is from the inefficient/poorly designed muffler, that can get super hot, when even a moderate load is put on the engine.

2. I have never found any trace of anything burning on, or around the muffler, or exhaust pipe, so I believe that is just the smell of muffler itself at 320+*F.

3. Replacing the stock muffler with a straight through design one would eliminate the smell.

I have a 2017 off road and like yours, under load the vehicles smells so bad I can not keep the windows open or it will choke the passengers. Toyota Canada is going to inspect it next week. it always happens under hard acceleration, always.

 

[1996_Valencia_Owen]

Super perplexing. Have this on my 2018.

I suspect the exhaust hangers. The flaw in logic is that not seeing melted spots on them means they arent burning.

The way heat would transfer would be through the metal hanger pins.

So to tell it's burning you might have to pull a rubber hanger off the truck and inspect the inside.

Might also be worth then putting a lighter to the inside briefly to see if the brief smoke smells similar.

To be so consistently on the right it has to be hot-exhaust related, and very localized around that exhaust. Burning muffler would only really come out the tailpipe to the back, not the right side.

Aside from rubber exhaust hanger cooking mildly from the inside out, only other possibility would be something very near the tailpipe where it snakes above the rear axle close to things... but again there I think heat is transferred faster via metal to metal or metal to rubber directly than through air. So I think it's something actually touching the exhaust.

Burning grease is possible, but seems like it would be more occasional, as grease doesn't really constantly fly out, and by accounts the smell is instantly reproducible on any hard driving.

My guess is the rubber hangers are of a soft quiet type for nvh, and can't handle the temps of high load driving and get a little hot (but don't reallt burn much), and the only reason we knoe is because our trucks have that tailgate window.

 

[BetteMidler]

Going to bring this old thread back up . I just noticed this on my 08 SR5 for the first time. Same as everyone else- back passenger side burnt rubber smell. I just had a lift installed and there is some grease under there but I don’t believe it’s that.

I was just doing moderate driving on the highway, no hills or heavy load. I was concerned but now that I’ve seen it’s a common issue I’m not overly concerned just perplexed.

 

[hishaun84]

Just noticed the smell myself. 2014 sr5 with 40k. Very concerning smell but after about an hour of investigating I could t find anything. I’m glad I found this thread. I’ll keep an eye on it but glad to see I’m not alone...

 

[morganhferry]

This is happening on my 2019. Right rear. Been happening since day one and I've now got 3,500 miles on it. Smell seems to be getting worse. Dealer says there's nothing wrong with it and acts like I'm nuts when I bring it in and tell them. I go skiing a lot, and it happens when we hit the parking lot at the hill after going up the steep highway and pushing the vehicle hard-ish. People who park next to us almost always comment on it as well. Hoping it's not a real issue. I can't tell if it's rubber or oil burning smell, but it's nasty.

 

[JP421]

I have the same issue on my 2019 ORP. It's strongest after I take the highway home from work.

 

[shack]

Super perplexing. Have this on my 2018.

I suspect the exhaust hangers. The flaw in logic is that not seeing melted spots on them means they arent burning.

The way heat would transfer would be through the metal hanger pins.

So to tell it's burning you might have to pull a rubber hanger off the truck and inspect the inside.

Might also be worth then putting a lighter to the inside briefly to see if the brief smoke smells similar.

To be so consistently on the right it has to be hot-exhaust related, and very localized around that exhaust. Burning muffler would only really come out the tailpipe to the back, not the right side.

Aside from rubber exhaust hanger cooking mildly from the inside out, only other possibility would be something very near the tailpipe where it snakes above the rear axle close to things... but again there I think heat is transferred faster via metal to metal or metal to rubber directly than through air. So I think it's something actually touching the exhaust.

Burning grease is possible, but seems like it would be more occasional, as grease doesn't really constantly fly out, and by accounts the smell is instantly reproducible on any hard driving.

My guess is the rubber hangers are of a soft quiet type for nvh, and can't handle the temps of high load driving and get a little hot (but don't reallt burn much), and the only reason we knoe is because our trucks have that tailgate window.

Any updates on the exhaust hangers?

 

[shack]

Hello all. I joined this forum specifically for this topic. I have an 08 GX470 w/ 120k thats been giving me the burning rubber / plastic smell now for about 8 months, intermittently.

-Bear with me as this post will be a rambling stream of consciousness.-

I first noticed it on a trail ride at the end where I had been on my brakes quite a bit. I thought the brakes were bedding in, since I had replaced the pads prior to the run. I've since replaced pads, rotors and calipers in the rear and still have the smell. I didn't check the parking brake rub though, so that might have something to do with it.

I haven't noticed any leaks around the rear bearings. I just had my truck regeared and locked and would have thought the mechanic would have mentioned leaking seals had he seen them. Plus, this was an issue long before that so I'm ruling that out for now.

I haven't had any issues with lights, brake controller, etc to make me think it was a OEM wiring issue, though I have had some issues with a bad blinker ground in the engine bay area. I think these 2 issues are different.

I thought it could be the valve covers leaking onto the cats, but I just had a major service done including timing belt, cam seals, valve cover gaskets, plugs... and the smell existed before then... and its not an oil smell anyway.

I've had exhaust work done and thought it might be the hanger, so I checked that and it looked a bit worn on the inside, so I replaced that, still have the smell. I didn't check all of them though, so I will add that to my list of things to do. I do get some (what I would consider to be excessive) exhaust ticking after certain drives. My girlfriend has a GX as well and her exhaust doesn't sound anything like mine after a long drive, so thats a possible starting point. I've read over on mud that some 100 guys have had an issue where the muffler split along the seam and smoked some nearby wiring creating the smell, but I haven't been able to locate any problems there. My GX is pretty heavily modified and I have airbags in the coils, so possibly check the hoses there for signs of melting?

I believe my next step is to swap out the muffler and examine the heat shields for debris or material breakdown. I'll let everyone on here know how that goes. This isn't normal, IMO

 

[johnbt]

I drove over a dead skunk on the way home last night. When I parked in the driveway and walked around the truck I couldn't smell the burned rubber aroma that's normally there.

I can't wait for the burned rubber smell to come back. After 2 years I sort of miss it.

 

[shack]

I drove over a dead skunk on the way home last night. When I parked in the driveway and walked around the truck I couldn't smell the burned rubber aroma that's normally there.

I can't wait for the burned rubber smell to come back. After 2 years I sort of miss it.

you might be on to something there. maybe I'll strap a bag of potpourri to the axle and see what happens!

 

[Bumbo]

I drove over a dead skunk on the way home last night. When I parked in the driveway and walked around the truck I couldn't smell the burned rubber aroma that's normally there.

I can't wait for the burned rubber smell to come back. After 2 years I sort of miss it.

It's not hard to go back to an old pair of shoes after you step in sh1t with the new ones...

 

[97BlackAckCL]

I always assumed this was my tires after getting heated up on the highway, huh