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OK so let me recap the past 2 days.
Last night I am driving around, kicking the car around a bit, and i start
to notice that at every light when i stop i can smell something coming from
under the hood..smelled like burning oil at first. Anyway, I drive home
(same spirited fashion) park the car shut it off and pop the hood. I get
greeted by what seemed like a cloud of steam coming from the area of the
turbo, and a really unpleasant smell, kinda like when you run a hairdryer
for too long. I shut the hood, go inside and begin my worrying.
Tonight, I am driving around, kicking the car around a bit, and I start to
notice that at every light when I stop I can smell the same odor coming
from under the hood, again, I cant tell if its burning oil or more of a
hairdryer smell. I drive home (same spirited fashion), park the car, and
leave it to idle. I pop the hood and surprisingly dont get smacked in the
face by a cloud. I start smelling around as the car is still running. I
finally settle on the area of the turbo, where there was a lot more heat
than other parts of the engine bay, and where the smell is coming from. I
shut the car off, go inside and here I am.
Some info on the car.
2004 Mazda MX-5 Mazdaspeed
Stock engine aside from a Forge VTA BOV
35k miles
Did an oil change today, and poured synthetic in. The filter I pulled out
said firestone so I guess the previous owner had it done there, and I can
only assume they used regular oil. Oil that came out was clean and not
milky. No smoke from the exhaust. Car drives the same as before.
Around the engine bay: no leaks, no drips, no spots of oil or any other
fluids of any kind. All fluid levels normal.
Under the car: no leaks, no drips, no spots of oil or any other fluids of
any kind.
Now I cant tell if the smell is just heat, or oil, or coolant. I do know
turbos get very hot during operation, so that explains the heat. I dont
know why I got smacked with steam, or if the smell is normal, so I am here
to find out. Ive gotten several responses already such as "bad coolant
line", "its normal", "turbo is oil and water cooled so its the smell of the
fluids burning inside of the turbo", but no real certain answers because
everyone I talked to had something different to say.
Anyone have feedback on this? It might just be something that I only
noticed now that has been happening the entire time, or maybe the cooler
temps at night (dont smell this during the day).
Thank you!
newyorker
Do you allow the turbo to cool down (leaving the car idle for 30-60sec.
before shutting the car off.) when you do some heavy loading of the engine?
sounds like, to my opinion, you are cooking the turbo, buddy. things are
different when you are boosted
DARKtEAGLE
right but the fact that it does it every time i come to a light isnt normal
either. im taking it tomorrow to mazda again im fed up. i wont leave their
lot until they diagnose the problem and give me a solution.
the smell of burning oil is coming from the rear of the engine, could be a
leaking VC or HG or something but they can decide that on their own.
newyorker
Are you sure its not an exhaust leak? Its definitely not exhaust?
Mathew
Does an exhust leak smell like burning oil? does an exhaust leak shoot
steam into your face? Frankly at this point i dont give 2 shits what it is,
its mazdas problem now
newyorker
why post it here then? :screwy:
windsonian
When I said no smoke I meant no white smoke or blue smoke to signal a
problem inside of the engine itself.
Dealer replaced the seal between the trans and driveshaft today because
there was a leak there. There is also a possibility that since the shifter
bushing ripped, fluid was coming through the shift turret and dripping down
the trans and into the cat (there was a sign of burned fluid on it). They
fixed the shifter and the seal but I am on record with them that i said
there is a burning smell coming from somewhere under the hood near the back
of the engine so if the smell doesnt go away in a few days, back to Mazda
it goes.
One of the guys at the service desk tried to play stupid with me. After
they fixed the shifter for the first time, it was still sticking (if you
moved it left to engage gears 1 or 2 and just let go it would stick there.
He asked me "well why would you leave it there", my response was "show me
any other car on the lot where it sticks like that, it shouldnt stay there
no matter why i do it"
****s
newyorker
How would fluid get into the cat?
Mathew
shit, i meant onto
newyorker
