My engine has a faint burning smell and gets hot really fast even after just a mile of city driving and returning home. I purchased the car second hand and it has close to 100k miles. The engine oil hasn't be changed yet and is at 40% oil life. The temperature gauge seems fine and is usually right smack dab in the middle of hot and cold.

I don't think this is normal. Should I get it checked out or should I just replace the engine oil ASAP? The previous owner told me he used pennzoil conventional oil and fram filters..ugh.

I have pennzoil platinum full synthetic and a k&n filter ready to be installed.

 

Check your coolant.

Might be time to do a radiator flush. GL!

btw platnium aint all that great. i know its cheap but if u want soething really good, go for Castrol Edge. A bit more pricey tho

 

coolant level seems fine. i just did a half flush (about 1 gallon) and topped it off with prestone long life coolant. i'll do another flush when i do my oil change or something.

 

na dont do no half ass stuff yo

if u ganan do it, do it right the first time. flush the whole radiator

 

Does it smell like rubber?

Does it smell like oil?

 

I have a faint burning smell too, but only when I run it hard. I'm gonna do a radiator flush this weekend and see if that does it.

 

It happens to me, after i cleaned my cats and put exaust i think cuz there is no cat to stop gasses idk, but smell like gas when i run it

 

I started smelling the same thing these last two days, but it happpens right after I start her up from a cold start. Then it fades away before driving.

 

hrm, i don't have any gas smell while driving or after driving.

for me, the smell comes only comes on after driving.

 

I think I narrowed it down to whenever I leave my seat heaters on. I turned it off last night, and did not smell it this morning when I cranked the car.

 

Do you mean it's the smell of burning ass? Haha.

 

Well boy do I feel stupid! I took a spin down to my local Acura dealership to see if they could diagnose the burning smell. They diagnosed it alright... A plastic shopping bag had gotten caught on my new XLR8 j-pipe and was burning as the exhaust would heat up. I never bothered to look! Who new it could be something so simple? Beware of the obvious before you go tearing the engine/interior apart.