Burning rubber smell?

A

Axewhlder

New member
If I drive a little harder I get this faint burning rubber smell from the front end. I don't smell it in the cabin but if I walk past the front of the truck I can. I'm thinking it may be an over-tightened belt since I do have a bit of chirping when at idle. I just bought 3 new belts as normal maintinence but haven't installed them yet.

Any other thoughts?
 
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Are you sure it's not the typical burned smell from the leaking valve cover gaskets a lot of us have experienced?
 
thats exactly what it is i just got mine checked and i thought it smelled like rubber you can buy the parts for around 50 bucks on ebay...

you need:
valve cover gasket set
plenum gasket

and then its a lot of labor and if you havent replaced your spark plugs in awhile you should go ahead and do those because you have to go through the manifold so you can knock that out too
 
Yep, very common on these to have a leaky valve cover. The oil drops down onto the exhaust manifold (Very hot) and burns. Burnt oil is sort of smells like burnt rubber... in a way.

"Easy" fix.... does require some time though.
 
It could be although I didnt think to check. The valve cover gaskets have been replaced in the last 50,000 miles or so. Do they really fail that quickly? When I changed my plugs 2 weeks ago there was no sign of oil dripping anywhere.
 
The bolts might just be loose....try tightening them before you go buying new valve cover gaskets. They should be torqued to 52"lbs.
 
Maybe it's just your tires roasting from the massive amounts of horsepower being delivered to the tires, through the drivetrain, from the 3.4L engine.

Yeah, that's it.
 
Axewhlder said:
It could be although I didnt think to check. The valve cover gaskets have been replaced in the last 50,000 miles or so. Do they really fail that quickly? When I changed my plugs 2 weeks ago there was no sign of oil dripping anywhere.
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They can. Mine does not appear to be leaking ANYWHERE, and yet there's still a faint smell as well in my engine bay.
 
I put about 120 miles on it today. At least 70% of that was in 4wd due to a sudden snow storm. Still got the smell and looked for leaks with nothing. I'm going to try to torque down the valve covers to factory spec first and see what happens. I figured with how much I was working it I'd see some signs.

Getting my belts changed as I type this so maybe it was that. Even if thats not the culprit I needed them done anyway. Maybe I'll get lucky.
 
I've had the 'burning rubber' smell on and off for about 6 months now and I'm pretty certain its the result of coolant burning off on some part of the exhaust. Trouble is, when I'm stopped, the smell goes away. It's never seemed to come from under the hood either so I'm not certain about valve cover gasket. Trying to find the source of the smell keeps me up at night!!

I'm now thinking it's my rear coolant (heater) lines, which are pretty much rusted through in about a 6" area where they come down from the firewall. I'm thinking there is a small leak shooting coolant onto the exhaust and by the time I pull over to look, it's already vaporized. Replacing rear lines with rubber ones this weekend so will see what transpires. Either way, it's gotta be done so all good.
 
Blanco said:
I've had the 'burning rubber' smell on and off for about 6 months now and I'm pretty certain its the result of coolant burning off on some part of the exhaust. Trouble is, when I'm stopped, the smell goes away. It's never seemed to come from under the hood either so I'm not certain about valve cover gasket. Trying to find the source of the smell keeps me up at night!!

I'm now thinking it's my rear coolant (heater) lines, which are pretty much rusted through in about a 6" area where they come down from the firewall. I'm thinking there is a small leak shooting coolant onto the exhaust and by the time I pull over to look, it's already vaporized. Replacing rear lines with rubber ones this weekend so will see what transpires. Either way, it's gotta be done so all good.
Click to expand...

Hey Blanco, did you ever track down this smell? I have a very similar thing going on, and also had it going on last summer. It only seems to happen for me when its warm out. My valve cover gasket was replaced around 30k ago.

Thing is I only smell mine when coming to a stop after driving at around 60mph or faster. And once Ive stopped the smell is gone in a few seconds. Ive tried jumping out of the truck and quickly looking at the engine bay. But like you said, it doesnt seem to be coming from that area. And if it is then it just evaporates too fast for me to trace it.

I never smell it when driving around town at slower speeds, and I didnt smell it all winter. Just popped back up as the weather has warmed up here lately. And I know its not rustly lines cause mine are basically rust free.

Any suggestions?
 
Hey Blanco, did you ever track down this smell? I have a very similar thing going on, and also had it going on last summer. It only seems to happen for me when its warm out. My valve cover gasket was replaced around 30k ago.

Thing is I only smell mine when coming to a stop after driving at around 60mph or faster. And once Ive stopped the smell is gone in a few seconds. Ive tried jumping out of the truck and quickly looking at the engine bay. But like you said, it doesnt seem to be coming from that area. And if it is then it just evaporates too fast for me to trace it.

I never smell it when driving around town at slower speeds, and I didnt smell it all winter. Just popped back up as the weather has warmed up here lately. And I know its not rustly lines cause mine are basically rust free.

Any suggestions?
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No, I never did properly locate the source of it. I didn't really smell it much over the winter either, likely as windows were closed most of the time. I did tighten up my valve cover bolts a couple of weeks ago (they were pretty loose) so maybe that'll do it but I'm certain it's a 'coolant' based odor that I'm smelling. Your issue totally sounds like mine though...as soon as the vehicle is stopped I jump out to locate the smell and it's GONE! Drives me nuts!

I thought it may have been a seized caliper but I've felt (and sniffed) around after a good drive and no smell or heat buildup that I can find.
 
Figure it out?

Axewhlder, I realize this thread is ancient, but was wondering if you figured out what was going on. Thanks in advance! I love this forum.
 
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