Plastic burning smell????

shadowstang03

New Member

Apr 26, 2004

26

0

0

San Marcos TX

Nov 10, 2007

#1

• Nov 10, 2007

• #1

Any help or ideas for this problem???

Everytime for the last month I have had a burning plastic smell occur after turning off my car or reving the throttle while sitting still. I looked under the car everything looks normal, oil is full and clean , no smoke of any kind under the car or behind the car while running or after shutoff. Any ideas what this could be???


Thanks to all .......

 

DarkFireGT

Playing with my wife's really makes me want one.

10 Year Member

May 23, 2004

692

10

89

East Moline, IL

Nov 10, 2007

#2

• Nov 10, 2007

• #2

have you checked the mufflers. This is usually caused by a plastic bag on the muffler or exhaust pipes.

 

H

homebrewer

Member

Nov 12, 2006

59

0

7

Richmond VA

Nov 10, 2007

#3

• Nov 10, 2007

• #3

I was going to say the exact same thing.

You probably won't notice plastic hanging off of the muffler/cats/pipes, but if you inspect it closely, sometimes its melted on there. Annoying? Sure, but it should burn off after a few thousand miles.

 

S

sycd

New Member

Dec 20, 2006

17

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0

Nov 10, 2007

#4

• Nov 10, 2007

• #4

I had the same problem after driving hard with the Bamachips torq tune. Switched to a VMP tune, no problem since.

 

cowtown

Founding Member

Nov 4, 2001

228

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16

Victoria, BC Canada

Nov 12, 2007

#5

• Nov 12, 2007

• #5

Happened to me, I looked myself and had some peeps at Ford look while it was in the service bay, didn't see anything, it was really smelly. A week goes by and I had it in for on oil change and asked for them to take a look while it was up in the air and lo and behold there it was on the inside of the hpipe. It was burnt black so no real chance seeing it from most angles. It took a while but I rarely smell it at all now, sometimes a wiff here or there after a hard run.

 

LV51FER

New Member

Oct 25, 2005

318

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0

Caerphilly, Wales, UK

Nov 12, 2007

#6

• Nov 12, 2007

• #6

Yep, carrier bags instantly melt and go black. Go along the pipe and scrape anything off with a Stanley blade. Just don't confuse it with the smell of hot rubber off the tyres....

 

gtstang8706

Member

Jun 11, 2007

33

0

6

Dec 4, 2007

#7

• Dec 4, 2007

• #7

Ok..ive been waiting for someone else to complain about this! Im having the same problem. At first i thought it was my clutch but i dont beat on it and it usually only happens when i rev the car hard...on hill starts and just screwing around. I brought it to the ford dealer and of course its fine and everythings clean they couldnt pruduce the smell. So besides having to pay $50, it didnt solve anything! Any ideas besides the plastic bag theory?

 

2

281Ponies

New Member

Nov 14, 2003

190

0

0

Dec 4, 2007

#8

• Dec 4, 2007

• #8

Had the plastic bag thing happen with the factory h-pipe and it gave off one heck of a smell... the factory pipe has been replaced now and funny thing is I thought I smelled a plastic burning smell last night.
I've replaced the factory shifter as well and wondering now if it is related to the heat coming up under the console... mine gets warm almost hot to the touch sometime.

 

stangdude2000

Founding Member

Jun 23, 2001

1,727

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0

Northern VA

Dec 4, 2007

#9

• Dec 4, 2007

• #9

Plastic bag thing happened on my old V6 - got caught in the Y-pipe. I knew it was there, but couldn't get under the car to get it off. Smell never went away from when it happened to when I sold it several months later.

 

DarkFireGT

Playing with my wife's really makes me want one.

10 Year Member

May 23, 2004

692

10

89

East Moline, IL

Dec 4, 2007

#10

• Dec 4, 2007

• #10

gtstang8706 said:

Ok..ive been waiting for someone else to complain about this! Im having the same problem. At first i thought it was my clutch but i dont beat on it and it usually only happens when i rev the car hard...on hill starts and just screwing around. I brought it to the ford dealer and of course its fine and everythings clean they couldnt pruduce the smell. So besides having to pay $50, it didnt solve anything! Any ideas besides the plastic bag theory?

Click to expand...

I would still put $10 on it being a plastic. Thing is, once they hit the exhaust, they shrivel up instantly, and can be quite hard to see. Unless you've looked on the top and bottom of all components of the exhaust system and engine, I would go with plastic bag or something similar.

 

LV51FER

New Member

Oct 25, 2005

318

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0

Caerphilly, Wales, UK

Dec 5, 2007

#11

• Dec 5, 2007

• #11

The only other smells I get are the faintly fishy smell of rubber off the tyres and have you considered it might be a touch of the smell off the catalyst - sulphur i believe. Possibly using a low sulphur gas would help.