Hey I just had timing belt and water pump replaced a couple days ago and ever since that I've been smelling a kind of burning/oil/new car smell in the car. The smell goes away when the car is moving but when coming to stop or idling it starts to come in through the vents. I see no oil leaks around the valve cover and the smell seems to be coming from the driver side of the engine. Any ideas what it could be? I'm hoping its just some spilled oil and it'll go away, but I'm afraid I'll die from the fumes before that happens =[

 

Not good, take it back to wherever u went.... If any oil is on the timing belt, that is not good, it can skip teeth.

Even if you take it back to the shop, and they acknowledge the smell, you can come back in 2 weeks (if something fails) and use that against them.

If you did it yourself, let us know exactly what you did? If its just tbelt/wpump then the only thing I can think of is too much tension on the belt AKA overtightening the tensioner. There is a specific procedure where you tighten it to xx ft lbs, loosen it, rotate crank, tighten to yy ft lbs (xx>yy).


EDIT: RUBBING TIMING COVER! Thats my guess, when the valve cover is popped open, some people pull it up from the passenger side, thus, the driver side kinks and rubs against the timing belt. My girlfriend's car's upper timing cover is bent out of shape and has grooves in it from the timing belt. Look immediately, you can damage the fibers on the belt.

 

^^Thanks I will check those. I didn't do it myself. I called the shop and they told me to snug up the valve cover bolts. I saw no reason to as i inspected and saw no leaks around the valve cover but I did anyways. I have no torque wrench though so I might go get 1 and torque to specs and see how that works.

 

Figured it out. 1 of the valve cover bolts in the middle, the 1 in between cylinder 2 and 3 was missing the grommet. Went and got the grommet and smells completely gone. Who knew such a tiny little grommet would stop my car from stinking so bad.

 

Many sure you do not over tighten those bolts they can snap.

 

Exactly, they take like 6lbs from a torque wrench to break. Just get them snug, then an extra 1/8 turn, and you'll be fine.

 

Was it kind of a 'hot' smell? I've got what may be a similar smell following my timing belt replacement, but I'm pretty sure I have all my seals in place. Maybe my VC is also not sealed correctly...