Burnt Smell In Cabin Of 2000 Outback

[mwells]

The last few days I've been smelling a burnt smell inside the cabin of my 2000 Outback wagon. The vehicle has 88,000 miles on it, runs great, trans shifts fine, etc. What do I need to look for? Changed oil around 1000 miles ago..added some trans fluid around 750 miles ago.

 

Thanks for the help.

[cannonball]

Check your inner CV boots on the axles. Check the passenger front first. See if the boot is split and grease is splattered on the cat.

[idosubaru]

check your axle boots. one likely broke and is spewing grease on the exhaust, it burns off and stinks. not an immediate concern, like anything bad will happen. have a look and let us know. where the front axles attach to the trans and the wheels there are boots - so 4 up front, likely one by the trans has cracked.

[lucifer_1_child]

if you are doing a lot of elivation chage when you stop a small amout of coolent will boil off as your car depressurizes the cooling sysstem check if your coolent is low (coolent has a verey distictive smell)if you coolent is fine i would go with the whole oil on the down pipes deal

good luck

-luke

[1 Lucky Texan]

Does it smell like toasted marhmallows? (sweet) That's coolant. Also, is it stronger near the driver's door or near the coin tray? I think there have been a coupla fires in OBWs centered near the drivers door - info is still scarce on that though.

 

 

Maybe some plastic debris or something got caught on the exhaust?

[mwells]

When "warming up" the car this morning, went back into house, came back to leave and smelled a strong odor, like oil or something..not sure what. I only smell this when ideling. I will check for coolant, boots, etc and repost. COULD it be transmission fluid?

[idosubaru]

it could be alot of things, i doubt it's trans fluid. but possible, yes.

 

only at idle...that doesn't tell you much. a subaru puking oil all over the place and smoking crazy won't necessarily smell at all while driving, it all blows back behind/under the cabin.

 

check your CV's and report back. best to attack most common items, most likely then go from there.

[mwatt]

The last few days I've been smelling a burnt smell inside the cabin of my 2000 Outback wagon. The vehicle has 88,000 miles on it, runs great, trans shifts fine, etc. What do I need to look for? Changed oil around 1000 miles ago..added some trans fluid around 750 miles ago.

 

Thanks for the help.

 

Also consider checking for engine oil leaks at the cam covers--especially at the cam cover bolt sealing washers.

[otis]

ok 2 things ring some bells here for me.

 

1. you said you added transmission fluid. you could have overfilled and the excess is spilling out and hitting something hot. sometimes the transmission fluid level is hard to read and you may have been fine and inadvertantly added more. was the level low?

 

2. you also said you had the oil changed before that. I don't know if you did it or someone else did, but the mechanic could have mistaken the tranny filter for the oil filter. maybe he didn't screw it on right or maybe he damaged the filter and you've been leaking transmission fluid- causing the low level you may or may not have seen in #1. also the trans fluid could be spilling from the damaged filter and hitting the exhaust giving off the smell you describe.

 

i take it that since you have to warm up your car, you must be parking outside so it may be difficult to spot a leak.

[mwells]

Well..there are no leaks on the ground...but it is oil. Not sure exactly where it's coming from...I had a fellow put it on a rack for me. If your in front of the vehicle..standing under the car..about midway of the oil pan..it's leaking from up above down onto the frame of the black plastic that also holds the splash guard that you remove to change the oil filter. (Sorry I'm not a mechanic.) I cannot see anything from up above. Engine looks clean otherwise. The gentleman that changed the oil did "overfill" it, had at least 3/4 of a quart too much. When I bought the car it had around 30,000 miles on it and was well taken care of. I was using 10W40 in it and recently changed to 10W30 as recomended by Subaru. Would overfilling or changing the grade of oil have caused this?

 

We changed the oil and put back around 4.25 quarts. Where could the leak be coming from?

 

Thanks again.

[1 Lucky Texan]

Well..there are no leaks on the ground...but it is oil. Not sure exactly where it's coming from...I had a fellow put it on a rack for me. If your in front of the vehicle..standing under the car..about midway of the oil pan..it's leaking from up above down onto the frame of the black plastic that also holds the splash guard that you remove to change the oil filter. (Sorry I'm not a mechanic.) I cannot see anything from up above. Engine looks clean otherwise. The gentleman that changed the oil did "overfill" it, had at least 3/4 of a quart too much. When I bought the car it had around 30,000 miles on it and was well taken care of. I was using 10W40 in it and recently changed to 10W30 as recomended by Subaru. Would overfilling or changing the grade of oil have caused this?

 

We changed the oil and put back around 4.25 quarts. Where could the leak be coming from?

 

Thanks again.

 

possibly PCV hose?

[mwells]

What is the PCV hose..what does it do..and is this an easy thing to repair? What costs can I expect for a job like this? Also, how can I determine IF it is the pcv hose that's causing the leak.

 

Thanks.....

[1 Lucky Texan]

What is the PCV hose..what does it do..and is this an easy thing to repair? What costs can I expect for a job like this? Also, how can I determine IF it is the pcv hose that's causing the leak.

 

Thanks.....

 

The Positive Crankcase Ventilation system is supposed to allow excess pressure from the crankcase (think oil pan, valve covers and area behind the pistons) to be relieved and the vapors sent to the intake to be combusted by the engine. In the 'old days' those vapors would've been released to the air through a breather cap.

 

If the crankcase were over filled with oil, its POSSIBLE the PCV system sucked some up and, instead of vapors being drawn into the cylinders, liquid oil escaped to drip down somewhere.

 

It would be easy and inexpensive to have your mechanic inspect this system for operation,cleanliness - maybe even spot some evidence that it IS the source of the oil - and maybe solve the mystery.

[mwells]

Thanks for the help on this. Where is the pcv valve and hose located? The same mechanic that overfilled my oil also installed a new K&N air filter at the same time. Is the hose/pcv valve near this filter? Could there be a loose hose asscosiated with the pcv valve that was mistakenly pulled loose?

[1 Lucky Texan]

Thanks for the help on this. Where is the pcv valve and hose located? The same mechanic that overfilled my oil also installed a new K&N air filter at the same time. Is the hose/pcv valve near this filter? Could there be a loose hose asscosiated with the pcv valve that was mistakenly pulled loose?

 

Maybe someone can post a diagram, but I think it's gonna be behind the intake manifold on the passenger side (left when looking into the engine bay from the front).

 

Likely not related to installation of K&N panel filter. But, if you got a CAI of some type - that could mean some hoses were installed wrong I guess.

 

edit, try here;

http://www.scoobymods.com/forums/showthread.php?t=16&highlight=pcv+location

[serotta50]

Check out the power steering fluid reservoir, might have a slow leak underneath or ??. My 95 lsi has a slow leak that smells like something is burning. It is going in the shop over Xmas to repair, judging by info on this board, it is likely to be a o ring.

[cookie]

but do check to see if it could be the heated mirror short that a few cars have had.

Those cars start a fire in the door if I recall correctly. It seems that this would be pretty obvious if that is what it was.

[mwells]

Well...I took the Outback to a mechanic that was recommended to me.. and he says its "the cylinder head gasket on the drivers side". I called the dealer where I purchsed the vehicle and they told it SHOULD be covered under a recall. I had some Subaru "stop-leak" additive added by the dealer about 1.5 to 2 years ago from a recall letter I received concerning the head gasket, so this should cover me...right?

 

I thought the vehicle should be leaking coolant..not oil if the head gasket was the problem. Anyway, taking it to dealer Thursday for repair. They say it's a 3 day job. Will this car be safe to drive 2 hours/120 miles to the dealer. The car is leaking a small amount of oil and blowing back onto the exhaust at the "y" underneath the engine.

 

Thanks for all the help.

[cookie]

and check the oil and water. Yep, if its the headgasket it usually leaks coolant. It sure sounds like you need the oil leak addressed too, but if the dealer does it I am sure they will take care of that.

[mwells]

But...does this oil leak sound like a head gasket problem?

 

 

Thanks......

[cookie]

But it does sound like somebody needs to look at it that knows what they are doing. Subarus are pretty odd cars but the average mechanic that works on them all the time knows thier foibles. If you can get this covered under the head gasket warranty that is best. I had it done to my 99 Forester as preventitive maintence (tiny leak) and then Subaru paid me back for the head gasket job. You might want to get normal resealing done as long as they are in there.

[mwells]

The fellow I spoke with at the dealership this morning told me "9 times out of 10 that's usually the problem"(head gasket). I don't seem to be loosing any coolant..and the oil leak isn't enough to leave a "spot" on the ground, but it sure looks like a mess underneath. It's seems(to me) to be pooling right under the oil pan, best I remember, and blowing back onto the "y" exhaust and then smoking. When you're setting still at idle you sometimes get, especially with the heat on, a smell of burnt something. With the heat off I smell nothing. I used to take the car to a "quickie change" place til I found out they hadn't been taking the spalsh guard off to change the oil. Pretty much destroyed the guard from all the splashed oil.

 

I'll keep my fingers crossed and hope they do the repair and it'll take care of the problem. I really love the car, I had an 87' GL Wagon before this and put almost 200,000 on it.

 

Thanks again.......

[nipper]

it could be, just you may be the first to have it fail at an oil passageway. Check your raidatoe and make sure the coolant looks good, Check your oil for the same. Aside from being smokey, keep a eye on your temp gauge, and you should be able to drive it to the dealer. If either one of those look compromised, i would have the dealer arange a tow.

[cookie]

and if it's shakey tow it. That said many of the seals likely to leak are changed in the average head gasket job. Good luck.

[mwells]

I have an appointment with the dealer to address the head gasket problem with my Outback. When they do the gasket job, at 89,000 miles, what other things should I have them look at? As long as they have to pull the engine anyway, what other preventative maintanence things could/should they do?

 

Thanks alot for all the help from this board.....