I just recently bought a 1995 Honda Civic DX that has 137K miles on it. It looks like it has been a well maintained car. The car lot claims that it had a new clutch and new radiator put on. After driving it for a while it smells like something is either burning or melting but the tempeture gauge never gets above 1/3. It has coolant in the resivoir and I can hear the fan switching on and off. It looks like the dealer put some tire shine(or something) on the engine to make look nicer. Could it be that burning off? Any help is appreciated.

 

Dealerships frequently spray tire shine on the engine to make it look shiny, it may very well be burning off. Keep an eye and see if it goes away.

 

That's what I thought. Just wanted to double check I am not very familiar with honda's or what the common problems with them are