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my fiancee has a 2001 subaru legacy limited gt auto 2.5L we just purchased. last night upon driving around town she noticed a funny smell when she stopped. immediately she calls me. it smells alittle like brakes or clutch or sumthing along those lines, but there's no slippage in the drive train, the brakes don't seem to be sticking the wheels aren't hot or anything. i took it for a spin and didn't smell anything until we were accelorating hard then we noticed a the smell. we have a little snow so things may have been a little slick and salt everywhere. at one point she felt the smell was comming from the heater, i didn't notice this though. it has a small exhaust leak sumwhere under the drivers door sumwhere i think, i haven't really been able to crawl under the car, but that's where it seems loudest. my buddy said it may have been exhaust from the leak pre cat or just post catilytic converter or sumthing.

 

i guess what i'm worried about is i don't understand the drive system on teh subaru's. is it like a truck where things are all gear driven?or is there clutch plates and stuff in the differentials?

 

i hope it's not more. thanks for any help you can give!

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I guess first things first, make sure the parking brake is off.

 

 

If it smells like its coming from the heater vents, it might be a heater core, if it smells anything like syrup thats what it is.

 

It could also be a blown out CV boot on the passenger side, flinging grease on the passenger side Cat Converter.

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im going to repeat what was just said basically.

 

check cv boots, if they are broke grease gets on the exhaust. no big deal, they won't fail anytime soon. i've gone 50,000+ miles on broken front boots.

 

keep your eye on the temp gauge and coolant level. easiest way to notice coolant loss is by frequently checking the level. if it's going down, it's loosing coolant. do not let the car overheat if you want to keep that motor running.

 

exhaust leaks can definitely create smell in the cabin, so that could be the culprit as well. since you have a known leak, i'd address that first and move on from there.

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Check all your fluids, including the power steering fluid (which is overlooked ... but can leak on the pipes).

If you think its a fluid leak, next time you park the car, slide a clean peice of cardboard under the car, and let it sit overnight, then check it out. To keep the gasses from leaking into the cabin, put the heater on recirculate, which will work for heat, but not for the defrosters as it will override your selection. You can see the CV boots from under the hood.

 

nipper

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thanks guys for the input. i think i may have narrowed it down, there's an electric clutch in the a/c condenser right? and it's on when teh defroster is on? we smell it from teh outside of the car when the defroster is on from teh driver's side (same location as the condesner). when the defroster is off we don't smell it. at all inside or out.

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nice try but ....

 

when the defroster is on it pulls in fresh air no matter what you have the climate control set at. The ac alwyas comes on with defroster, unless its really cold outside. Keep looking, as the failure mode for the ac clutch is it wiether seizes or stops working.

i still say you have a fluid leak.

 

 

nipper

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