burning smell

[jonathant]

Morning,

I'm getting a faint burning smell (smells like burning plastic/rubber) which seems to be stronger around the passenger footwell. I've had a quick poke around and all the obvious relays and stuff did not feel at all hot.

Popped open the bonnet but didn't notice any burning smell - just hot engine smells as normal. I'll have a closer poke around a little later.

Any thoughts or pointers as I call my local garage?

Cheers,

Jonathan

[snorky]

hot exhaust underneath, touching something...???

[parrot of doom]

Tyre rubbing?

[jonathant]

Unlikely to both, there's no burning smell from anywhere in the engine bay, nor from outside the car.

Current thought is the fan control unit but we'll hopefully find out at my local this afternoon.

[Podie]

Check the fuses...

[jonathant]

would a blowing/blown fuse give a burning smell for 5mins+ with the roof off?

[Podie]

jonathant said:

would a blowing/blown fuse give a burning smell for 5mins+ with the roof off?

Depends what has gone... it could be melting the fuse box (seen it, but thankfully not on my car).

Cable ties also get brittle as they go through heat and cooling cycles.. I've seen them snap and a plastic coated wire start to smoulder away...

[jonathant]

will double check, but fuses look intact from a cursory inspection.

[JonRB]

Are you sure you're not just driving it properly?

Only joking.

I had what Podie just mentioned - a cable tie fail and a wire start flapping around. It was the wire(s) to the fans and they fell against the exhaust manifold and burned through, leading me to a catastrophic overheat and being stranded on the roadside.

I now carry 30A wire and heavy-duty automotive connectors in case it ever happens again.

>> Edited by JonRB on Friday 29th July 14:09

[Tiger]

I had this, turned out to be a bit of paper that had blown up between the manifold and out of site. Was quite crispy when I found it.

[Nick_Chim]

Is the foam seal between the radiator top and front bodywork still in place? - this can sometimes detatch and touch exhaust compenents, causing 'interesting' smells.

[2 Smokin Barrels]

When I had this, a fuse, which looks just like the 100A fuse, had come loose. It was getting hot, and melted the plastic cover. It resided in the passenger footwell, near the battery box.

[jonathant]

well, first prize goes to Podie.....

Had to use the hard shoulder of the M11 after getting a cloud of smoke from the passenger footwell. Turns out the 25A fan fuse (no19?) had eventually blown melting itself into the fusebox. Sigh.....

Now I need a new fusebox.......

[victormeldrew]

Obviously not the case here, but I thought I'd post anyway, may be of use to someone.

I was working on the car - fixing a rattly/slow window - on a dry day. The ignition was on, as I was winding the window up and down a lot, and it was draining the battery so I'd run it for a while while testing.

I'd inadvertantly knocked the wipers on, but being bone dry and typical TVR pathetic wipers, they just sat there, unmoving, so I had no idea they were on.

After putting the door panel back on the mirror adjuster was not working, so I checked the fuses. I could smell an electrical burning smell and wondered what it was, but put it down to the neighbour who was busy welding new sections on his Rangie. The mirror problem turned out to be loose connector on the back of the adjuster. I love taking those panels off!

A little while later I (fortunately) noticed wisps of smoke curling out of the bonnet. The wiper motor was getting rather warm trying to get the wiper arms to move! No lasting harm done, but it could easily have set fire.

[2 Smokin Barrels]

jonathant said:

well, first prize goes to Podie..... Had to use the hard shoulder of the M11 after getting a cloud of smoke from the passenger footwell. Turns out the 25A fan fuse (no19?) had eventually blown melting itself into the fusebox. Sigh..... Now I need a new fusebox.......

I thought so!! See above.

[parrot of doom]

jonathant said:

well, first prize goes to Podie..... Had to use the hard shoulder of the M11 after getting a cloud of smoke from the passenger footwell. Turns out the 25A fan fuse (no19?) had eventually blown melting itself into the fusebox. Sigh..... Now I need a new fusebox.......

Hmmm, is this because the fuse just doesn't fit in the socket any more? If so, and the surrounding fuses are fine, just install an in-line fuse holder, and leave the fusebox as is?

Certainly much cheaper.

[mattrosersv]

Have the same problem only when I replaced the fuse (by jamming it in after the old spade spot welded itself in place) smoke started appearing.

Have not had time to see what is up, however the relay was V hot.

Going to replace relay and hope for the best. Would be interesting to know if you found any more complex problems. I guess worst case I am in for re-wiring the fans with an in line fuse.

[jonathant]

My local garage tells me that TADTS after a while. Something to do with the fuses getting a poor connection in the fusebox and getting hot as a result. Eventually they get hot enough to melt. Maybe a solution to this is to annually remove and refit each fuse to remake the connections?

The fans seem ok - not seized or jammed - but they are coming on more than expected. Turns out I've lost my chin spoiler (again). Hopefully a new one will improve the cooling and give my fans a rest.