When I'm standing by the drivers door I smell the melting plastic. When I open the hood and smell in different areas it's hard to track it's origin. Any ideas of what this might be. There are no symptoms otherwise[ ie temp guage is fine and warning lights aren't on].T Brand new this morning.Out of blue.Thanks

On our car the 75w-90 gear lube from the front differential leaking onto the exhaust generates a similar odor. You might take a look around where the front inner CV joints meet the transmission (diff case).

I started getting a similar smell in January of this year when the oil seals in my '98 OBW started to go, and oil got on hot exhaust components. I ended up having the cam and front crank seals replaced. You'll know soon enough if it's the oil seals as oil will start to leak under the car in noticeable quantities.

I feel like it's a melting wire or something. There is a leak in the oil pan seal but that's not new and the inner cv is fine.. Is there a fuse that melts away slowly? It is definately plastic melting but there is no visible clues:rolleyes: It's a very strong smell when standing beside the car but hard to locate inside the engine compartment. Bazaar. Thanks

Any debris caught under the car? Wedged again the exhaust system perhaps?

Have you done any axles work lately? Leftover grease on the axle/CV can spray onto the catalyst and the smell will linger for AGES!

forester2002s said what I was thinking. Last year I crashed my heat shield. Removed it and haven't replaced it yet. End of last summer I was smelling melted plastic and sure enough, looked under the car and a plastic shopping back hit the converter and melted to it. It took at least a month till it burned off and stopped smelling.

Check your entire exhaust for any signs of something sticking to it!!!!