VTECwalka

94 civic ex, I just moved from Florida to Ohio a few days ago and we ended up towing my car rather than me drive it and gain all the miles.

Back in Florida everything seemed fine no bad smells and no problems for awhile now, Here in Ohio its about 15 degrees I finally took my car out tonight and noticed an odd smell I have never smelt before, Went back home parked in the garage and the smell was really strong. as if something was burning up.

Anyone have any clues as to what this could be? It has to be from the cold weather as I have never smelt this back in Florida. Could it be an issue with the coolent? the smell showed up within lets say 5 minutes of driving here for the first time.. The car did go through all the cold while being towed but was never started other than taking the car off the dolly and putting it right into the garage. It took maybe a minute to do all that.

95Sedan

have you inspected it? or just saying theres a smell and have no idea where it is coming from.

VTECwalka

I have not inspected it, I'm leaning towards a bad head gasket as this morning there was a punch of oil dripping off my header downpipe, and my oil level is of coarse now lower than it was before leaving Florida.

Don't want to run the car at all really as I don't want to hurt the block. Thinking about taking it to a mechanic in the morning to have a coolent flush and to have the oil problem looked at.

Also I couldn't really reach it and it may be nothing as it is snowing here, but my AC looked as if it was covered in liquid, I never used my ac or heater back in florida but i did use my heater last night, could that be a cause of the burning smell?

Marvin1985

iTrader: (5)

Hmm stale smell from heater that hasn't been used in a long time is very common. I'd say yes.

VTECwalka

Ok, So that would solve the smell. But the oil leak? I didn't have one in Florida or at least didn't think I did as my oil level never dropped for months( I did have an oil leak for awhile but it ended up being a bad vtec solenoid gasket and I fixed that).

I was told by the guy who loaded my car on the dolly that I had a rear main oil seal leak, Would that cause oil to drip down basically in the middle of the engine, It's just running down to the downpipe then dripping off. I asked another guy about that and he said unless I have really high mileage that seal doesn't go bad. I have 130k miles on the body but the engine has maybe 110k(or so i was told by the person who did my swap).

Marvin1985

iTrader: (5)

Clean all the oil off and watch it for the next few days to pin point it

crazyhouse2011

Put cardboard under your car to pinpoint the leak.

@marvin nice wire tuck! Wheres the brake booster?

dsol

i have a smell from my heater but after further inspection i discovered i was smelling the dust in my vents when it got hot...

95Sedan

there's still not remotely enough info. if you fix the leak the smell will most likely go away, spray the areas clean with carb or brake cleaner, start the car up sit and watch it

VTECwalka

Well I took it to a shop and was told I have all kinds of **** wrong,
front axles, timing cover and gasket, oil pan gasket, Lof, timing belt, valve cover gasket, and a new water pump

They wanted $1300 to fix everything, I got a coolent flush and a oil change and left it at that. I have put almost 7k into this car the past couple years and don't have the tools here to do it my self.

I think i'm just going to sell her and find a new car. Hate to do it because she looks great but I'm not made of money and it seems like I'm never going to get a brake. Still runs fine other than the leaks. going to put it on CL for maybe $2500 and see if someone takes her.

Marvin1985

iTrader: (5)

Rhd but also not my car lol. Just how I'd like mine to be when I'm done