My car didn't want to shift into 3rd so I pulled over and stopped the car, and restarted it. That when I smelled something. Something was burning. I was just down the street so I made it home. I put it in park and it started Rev Bouncing on its own(could still smell the burning). Turned it off. Inspected and didn't see leaks.

Fan was on, wasn't over heating.
Oil level full.
Transaxle full.
Coolant full.
No CEL.
No tranny light.
No vaccum leaks.

Just had booster and master cylinder put in if that has anything to do with it.

Whats going on with my car!?

 

What kind of burning smell? Rubber burning smell? Electrical burning smell? Metal burning smell? Exhaust burning smell?

There are several different burning smells and without you knowing what each smells like, it will be very difficult to even guess as to what is happening to your car.

Also, is there any unusual sounds associated with this burning smell or does the car sound perfectly normal (people usually don't know due to listening to the stereo)?

 

Definitely not something I've smelled before. Not rubber, electrical or oil for sure. It doesn't smell like a usually exhaust leak. If it helps, I'm also burning through fuel. And I kinda got bogged down after 2nd gear. I had no power to get into third gear now that I think about it. No sound came with the smell.

As far as the idling. It randomly stopped? I have no idea what cause it.

 

You say transmission light, so I assume an automatic transmission, not going into certain gears and a funny smell.

I'd say you smelled your clutch packs finally burning up and would explain both the smell and the not going into certain gears.

I would hazard a strong guess that you will need a new automatic transmission. How many miles on the car?

Or... the torque converter overheating is the other possibility but I'm not sure why it wouldn't go into certain gears if that was the issue.

 

I've got 164,000 on it. Previous owners put in a "new" engine. Not sure if the tranny was included or not. But would the Transaxle explain the rev bouncing that came with all of this?

Would my car have "limp mode"?

Should I drain an refill the trans?

 

Just drove it on the hwy and everything was perfect!? I don't understand what happened and that bothers me.
Also Im not 100 percent sure my D4 light even works. How could I be sure?
CEL DOES work though.

 

Rev bouncing sounds like torque converter to me, im guessing it does fine at highway speeds because it doesn't need as much friction.


I would at least flush and refill the trans, it couldn't hurt. After something like that happens once it doesn't just "go away"

 

Any info on where that D4 light is so i can see if its working?

And will do!

 

It's the D4 marking right beside the stick shift. Does it not light up when you put it in D3 or D4 or R or N or P? That whole console is supposed to be backlight depending on what shift selection you make.

Scratch that, it's the indicator on the dash that shows what gear selection you made as found in this thread. So the D4 I believe would flash if it's applicable to the 92-95.

Also of note, I'm not really sure if the 92-95 utilized the D4 warning indicator by making the D4 flash. I was hoping someone else a bit more familiar would chime in about that. I saw mention of it once but don't recall what was said.

As can be seen in this thread, the 92-95 automatics are much less involved and so there may not be a D4 error code system or if so, no where near as in depth.

EDIT ADDITION:Okay just checked out the FSM and for the automatic, it doesn't say anything about the D4, so that's 96+. It mentions the CEL, and if it blinks 19 times then check your lock-up soleniod(s). So you won't ever see your D4 flashing a code as you are a 92-95 D series transmission.

 

Oh okay cool. Thanks for all that information!!

I'm still not throwing any CEL's though. It does come on when the car is in the on position so I know that works.

 

Because of the lack of sensors, the 92-95 doesn't throw many codes while things are going wrong.

As an example, no knock sensor so when my ignition timing was way advanced and I was detonating something fierce, I never saw a code, nor did the timing retard to stop the detonation. Fortunately I heard it before too much damage was done. The pistons are still whole but show a touch of damage to them and the rods knock a touch more when cold as they probably took a beating for the very short time I got on it before noticing it and compressed a bit. Car is still running good but I know I took a few years of life off of the motor in just 1-2 minutes time.

Needless to say, because of the lack of sensors, these cars require a lot more behavioral knowledge to decipher problems as well as testing with the right tools and equipment. Quite often, the computer isn't telling you anything.

 

Alright cool! I appreciate all the responses! I guess the first thing ill do is the drain and refill.

And how do you check the lock up solenoid?

 

If you are not getting CEL with 19 short blinks, the solenoid is most likely working.

The Torque Converter itself and/or clutch discs are another matter.

The usual method is a 3 liter drain and fill 3 times.

Simply, drain 3 liters, fill 3 liters, drive 100 kilometers, repeat. After the 3rd fill you are done.

 

Drained and refilled the Tranny and it shifts smoother but I don't feel that was the problem! And I still don't know what cause the erratic idle.

But I found where the smell was. I just had the brake booster and master cylinder replaced and I guess it was not bled properly. The driver front tire rolls but I can hear grinding and smell them burning. Smoke even comes out the rims. I can even come to a stop at low speeds quickly without hitting the brake.

Is the caliper locked?

Can I just re bleed the system?

 

Sounds like your caliper piston is sticking. And now you've overheated the rotor so there will definitely be glazing and in theory it could have warped the rotor.

You need to overhaul the caliper by the sounds.

 

I just had the front calipers/pads/rotors/hoses/prop valve replaced 3 months ago. Why would the caliper piston go out so quickly?

 

I went to look at the piston and it was pushed all the way in. :/

 

Then you need to find what is causing the wheels to bind up enough to stop the car without applying brakes.

Seized wheel bearing maybe?

 

The piston was stuck. I have warranty on it. Ill replace tomorrow.

 

Your previous post gave the impression that the piston was fully retracted, not stuck in the extended position.

Glad it's just a stuck caliper piston.

Cheers.

 

Oh. It is fully pushed in. Sorry about that. So if its pushed in the caliper is okay? I think im confusing myself on this one.

 

How exactly do you find out if the piston is sticking?

 

How exactly do you know if the caliper piston is sticking?

 

Being your car is stopping without braking.....

Question is, is it both wheels or only one?

If it's both, you could have a bad master that's not releasing pressure back into the reservoir once you release the brake pedal.

If it's only one wheel then you can be fairly confident it's a sticking caliper piston as the pad isn't releasing after pressing the brakes.

It's odd that you just replaced them but sometimes can be bad out of the box.

Also did you bench bleed the master cylinder prior to install?

Rereading, you said you had a new booster and master installed. I would take it back as they may not have adjusted the pushrod correctly. Or the master cylinder is bad out of the box.

They did the work, they should warranty it.

 

He did NOT bench bleed master cylinder. I even asked him and told him, its something that needs to be done. He said no, i bleed after the install at all 4 brakes. And even then, he bled in the wrong order.

I usually do this stuff myself but im busy with school at the moment.