hey , i got a big problem, i got a slight oilpan leak which is fixable, but when i shut my car off i smell somthing burning. It smells like oil beinng burned, and radiator fluid as well. I toped off my coolant a week ago and its already empty. So i got it that thats the burning smell. I check under the car, there is no signs of a leak, except 4 the oil pan gasket which im fixing on friday as soon as i get ther part. Could i have a bad theromstat? Need help bad on this 1, thanks.

 

no 1? Come on, i know u'all can help me wit this 1. This is my daily driven car so i need 2 figure out the problem asap, just need some feedback 2 c what u guys think is the problem.

 

Is your engine warm when you smell burnning? If so, its probably left over oil on the block that is causing the smell.

 

Give more info on your car please. Mods, mileage etc...

 

car has 131K, mods r intake and exhaust and a b16 tranny. I havent done alot of work cause im building a motor outside the car, so its pretty much stock. I know its the coolant thats beeing burned. Thinking may b headgasket, dont realy know. I checked the cars oil and its fine 4 now, no oil spilled on top of valve cover. As soon as i pop the hood u can smell it hard, and thier is no smoke.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by joboost13 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">car has 131K, mods r intake and exhaust and a b16 tranny. I havent done alot of work cause im building a motor outside the car, so its pretty much stock. I know its the coolant thats beeing burned. Thinking may b headgasket, dont realy know. I checked the cars oil and its fine 4 now, no oil spilled on top of valve cover. As soon as i pop the hood u can smell it hard, and thier is no smoke.</TD></TR></TABLE>

I had the same problem when I had my turbo Integra due to leaky oil connections. When you're driving around, the oil seeps out and gets heated up by the block causing the smell you described. It's nasty, probably not too good for you, but will go away if you fix the leaks.

 

1) check oil level. if you have a major leak out of the oil pan gasket, you need to make sure to keep enough oil in the car until you figure out the problem to make sure you don't roast the motor.

2) figure out where that coolant/water is going. if you run out of coolant/water, then you'll overheat and roast the motor this way.

2a)take the radiator cap off, start the car. if exhaust comes out the top, your headgasket is blown inbetween the combustion chamber and a water jacket. i don't think this would result in consuming water though.
2b) run the car, is there white smoke coming out the tailpipe? is it dripping water? if so, once again, blown headgasket, but this would explain the disappearing coolant.
2c) take off the oil cap and stick your nose in there and get a big whiff. does it stink? if it does, take the valve cover off. if the oil is milky looking your headgasket is blown inbetween an oil passage and a water jacket.

3) not a blown headgasket? clean up your engine bay really well. run car and check for leaks around water pump, thermostat housing, heater hoses, intake manifold, and all radiator lines.

4) nothing visible in the engine bay? now we're getting desperate, the only thing left is the heater core behind the dashboard. i have no idea where they are on these cars, but check for evidence of coolant/water inside the car. it's highly unlikely that this would be the problem, as if it was ANY kind of substantial leak, it'd produce a very obvious smell.

AFAIK, these are the only possibilities for dissapearing coolant/water.

 

if you topped off your coolant a week ago and its empty now, there's a leak somewhere.

fix your oil leaks, clean off the engine, top off your coolant again, and check it daily. as soon as the level has dropped noticeably, check all the coolant lines and connections for tears/dried coolant. if everything on the outside looks good, then it could be your head gasket. however, if it is your head gasket, your oil should have a milky hue to it...

that should give you an idea of where to start to address the issue.

 

I have somewhat the same problem. this morning after i dropped off my lil sis to school i parked my car in the garage. i go in the garage an hour later and its filled with smoke. it smells like burning rubber...or when you burn yer clutch bad.

my car is a 98 GSR w/ 84k miles on it. it HAD a AEM V2 CAI (but im back to stock cuz its raining here in socal), DC Strut Bar, and Rotora Slotted Rotors.

My maint req light has been flashing for bout two weeks. but yesterday it stayed on. Heres what happened from the day i changed my oil, to now.

Saturday i changed my oil. i went from Valvoline DuraBlend (Synthetic blend) 10w-30, to Pennzoil (non-synthetic) 5w-30. could that be the prob??

also, yesterday my BF did a burnout. he was revvin pretty high. i dunno if that could be the prob. but yesterday was when it started smoking. CAN SOMEONE PLEASE HELP??

 

got back from my boys house, he works at acura. We checked everthing, thermostat is working fine, getting pressuer in teh system but not as much as i should. No smoke coming out of anywere, we let the car run and acc it alot with the radiator cap of, nothing. And the car starts up right away, so it cant b a headgasket we dont think anyway. MAy b the radiator cap as gone bad, and is some how cousing the system 2 burn all the coolant. Im fixing my oil pan gasket 2 morrow, then il clean up the engine so i can c if something leaks after wurds. ill let u guys know as soon as i c a leak, but if not that, u'alll think the radiator cap could b a possibility? Were also doing a block leak down test, which will tell me if i got a blown headgasket or not.

 

what does your "boy," do at acura?

1) it's not a "block leakdown," and it will not tell you for sure if the headgasket is blown. a leak test will only tell you if you have a leak or not, and if you know how to use it, will tell you where the leak is. rotate to TDC on whatever cylinder you are testing (the idea is to get both intake and exh valves closed). run the leak test, if you get more than 5% leak or so you have a significant problem (the goal is less than 2% leak for my race motor). take the intake off at the throttle body and listen for air coming out while running the test (at WOT), if you can hear it, you have a problem with the intake valves on that cylinder. if you can hear air coming out the exhaust, you have a problem with the exhaust valves on that cylinder. if you can hear air coming out the oil cap you have bad piston rings. it will not tell you for sure or not if you have a bad headgasket. a leak test will really do nothing to help you solve your cooling system problem.

if it was your radiator cap, you'd notice a bunch of crusty **** around it, and it'd be obvious that's where it was leaking. how many miles do you drive from the time you top it off to the time when it's visibly low?

 

i drive like 50 miles a day, i topped it off last saterday, and its right below the low point. I said the wrong thing, i dont rember what test he said we got 2 do, but he knows what he's talking about. I just hope i can fix it fast, its killing my performance, my car runs slow as hell, i feel like its not getting enough fuel at early rpms, can all this b cause my didtributor is advanced? Causing more spark than everthing can handel? When i put in the tranny, i never set the dizzy back 2 its normal setting, is this a possible solution 2 all this?

 

this actually just happend to me last night....i was driving and i smelt somthing burning so i got out and checked and i had low fluid.... all i did was fill the radiator all the way up with pre mixed half anti and half water(DISTILLED ONLY) then i filled the resorve bottle to the full line and i have been driving all day and all night and no smell after that????? make sure ur radiator cap is on real good!!!!!!

 

i would just go look at it. if you're loosing that much water, you should be able to see it, and if you can't, you're eating it.

i would suggest taking the valve cover off to look at the oil. have you overheated this thing anytime in the recent past? swapped heads?

btw.....you only need to use distilled water if you aren't running any coolant at all.

 

ive never over heated it, i just put some distilled water in it 2 day, it ran alittle better, and it smelled alot less. Wonder why? Ill take off my valve cover 2 c whats going on under thier, i checked my oil and its fine, not showing any signs of a blown headgasket.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by joboost13 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">ive never over heated it, i just put some distilled water in it 2 day, it ran alittle better, and it smelled alot less. Wonder why? </TD></TR></TABLE>

Probably b/c water doesnt smell when being burned off like coolant does. I am not sure if you said it earlier, but is your coolant level fine?

 

i filled it over the max line by alot, and it burned it all up, no its right at the max line.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by joboost13 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">ive never over heated it, i just put some distilled water in it 2 day, it ran alittle better, and it smelled alot less. Wonder why? Ill take off my valve cover 2 c whats going on under thier, i checked my oil and its fine, not showing any signs of a blown headgasket.</TD></TR></TABLE>

adding water won't make it run any different as long as you already had some in there.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">i filled it over the max line by alot, and it burned it all up, no its right at the max line.</TD></TR></TABLE>

it didn't burn it all up, it spit it out. if you overfill the overflow tank it will come shooting out that hose that's right under the radiator cap. that is most likely where that smell came from. and once the thermostat is open it sucks a bunch more water into the motor, and the fluid from the overflow tank gets cycled into the system. so if you checked your fluid level when the motor was still warm, it would appear to be low.

my guess; user error, you're car is fine.

 

it smelled b 4 i filled it though, when i first started smelling it, i opened the hood saw that the tank had no collant and i filled it. Im thinking flush my radiator, drain all the fluids, fill them up, and c if i still get the problem.

 

do whatever you want, there's nothing else i can do to help you over a stinking message board.

 

could need new piston rings. You are at 131k could be time depending on how you drive your car.... I'm at 86k and im the third owner of the car. My lower end needs a rebuild already... so i'm out 2g's.

 

thanks 4 the advice every 1, all is appreciated.