lazarus

All great ideas about the nature of the problem! We took the car for evaluation and, as soon as it was going up on the lift, we all saw the problem. It was indeed a plastic bag wrapped around and melted on the exhaust pipe. Our mechanic said we were lucky it had not caught fire. So, it is fixed, they changed the oil as long as we were there, checked the brakes and all is well. Soon that subaru will be hauling my trailer full of flowers, plants and veggies to spring farmers' markets here in MA. Yes! Spring will be here soon. J&L

Thanks for the replies....good thinking. I thought the crayon idea was a good one but there are no kids in the car! I'm glad I found this site as you have given us lots of leads. Linda&John

After driving my Legacy station wagon for about 30 miles, there is a strong odor that fills the passenger compartment that is similar to a candle burning. Is this a result of the catalytic converter producing a parafin? Should I be concerned about this new odor which could indicate a system malfuncton? The car has 30,000 miles.