I thought it was a coolant leak at first but there are no leaks, and it only happens when my turbo spools.

but...I was wondering why eveytime I boost (even slightly) the inside of my car smells like pancakes...has anyone else experienced this and is it normal?

 

I dunno but youre making me hungry as hell

 

Is the turbo water cooled? If so, you might have either a leak on the turbo's seals, or maybe one of the hoses that feeds water to the turbo is leaking?

Just a few suggestions.

 

its oil cooled....damn pancakes!!...does your turbo smell at all?...when I open the hood I don't smell anything...its only when I drive.

 

listen to your car...it wants pancakes no need to chop them up, the turbo should do that for ya...hehe.
There is "the turbo smell" I know that. my car smelled completely different after I turboed it. Must be all the extra hydrocarbons and N0x molecules that come from open DP....

 

Dude, if it smells like pancakes, its coolant. no 2 ways about it! you need to find out why. May be that when your install was done, coolant spilled all over the place. Takes weeks of driving before it will all burn off. You may be ok.

 

mmm pancakes arrgghhh

I agree though, sounds like coolant to me...never experienced anything like that myself...

 

Confucious says, "Pancake smell means you should soon find little green puddles under your car."

 

me too, breakfast time

 

no green puddles ...I guess I will just wait and see...its not constant and only happens every once and a while...

 

Going out on a limb here, but if you say it only smells like pancakes when you boost.....maybe you have a small leak in one of your coolant lines?
I know a while back i had a small leak in one of my coolant lines that would only leak when i would boost. At idle there was no leaking so of course there was no puddle under the car to go with it. Look around for dried coolant on anything under the hood to pinpoint the leak if there is one...

 

Hes right, i smell it too after i go boosting, but i usually smell it after i get home and open the hood.. I DO have a small coolant leak, which is causing air bubbles to get into my coolant reservior, but that will be fixxed soon, every morning when i wake up, theres a coolant leak the size of a quarter under my coolant reserviour.. I was always curious what this smell was, and now that the subject has come up, im still curious also, any other opinions???

 

lol, this is funny, but it has happened to me also. It happened when I got my new exhaust and really smelt like pancakes also. Do you have a new exhaust? I have no coolant leaks though. Kinda weird but it has gone away since breaking in the exhaust.

 

Miraiz. the worrisome thing is that you smell it in boost. This could mean pressure entering your coolant system, possibly from a leaky headgasket surrounding one of your cylinders. With the coolant system pressurized, it could force coolant out and around a hose somewhere. Check your coolant system for signs of oil and your oil for signs of coolant (milky looking). I hope it turns out to be nothing but some coolant sitting near your block of exhaust.

 

do u happen to drive past an IHOPS or Denny's every time this smell occurs?

 

my engine has just been rebuilt...and its been only 8 days since its left the garage...brand new HG...and I haven't boosted more than 2psi's....

 

Coolant for sure.

Take a look at your heater core. It could be failing. Turn your heat on while in the car see is the smell gets stronger, if so, its your heater core.

 

sweet

 

I went for a drive and got a good wiff of it and figured out what it...Its the header wrap that I'm using. I had completely forgotten that the garage had replaced the wrap that was on my down pipe because it was drenched in oil....new header wrap smell sweet when it burns...feel a lot better now

so remember...next time you go to IHOP, just say "it smells like burning header wrap"


[Modified by MiraiZ, 4:40 PM 3/31/2003]