Alan993S

Hi guys,

Just wanted to know whether anybody else has experienced this... after easy driving i got a very strong engine smell. the oil temp was sitting around the middle of the gauge when i was driving - which is too high - if possibly this has anything to do with it. i parked my car in the garage and the fan came on and distributed the smell around the garage. any idea what would be the cause? Not sure how to describe the smell other than a strong dry sharp engine odour, which went away after about an hour - i guess once the car cooled down.

regards
alan

ble2011

Can you provide more details of the odor? If it's an oil smell, that's somewhat common with these air cooled engines. As far as the oil temp guage pointing at the 9:00 position, I don't think that is uncommon either.

IXLR8

At what outside air temperature and driving style?

Mine is at the first mark at about 20 degrees C OAT and just cruising along.

Stuttgart951

Check for a rubbing/fraying belt.

IXLR8

Can't check for this, but it could be bits of belt after it disintegrated and got sucked in by the cooling fan and are now lying atop the hot cylinders.

Alan993S

Thanks for the comments - its quite a broad question / problem. Guess was just worried with the smell / temp that i was not frying the engine or something. What i may do is take off the engine tray and get the engine cleaned and see if that makes a difference.

At what outside air temperature and driving style?

Mine is at the first mark at about 20 degrees C OAT and just cruising along

yeah about the same

matt777

Engine odors like hot oil, hot rubber and exhaust are all normal to a certain extent. This makes it hard to say if what you are smelling is abnormal. Is this a new smell?

Stuttgart951

Could be, but I imagine he would notice a belt that disintegrated.

What I had in mind was what I randomly experienced, once: A/C belt ended up, somehow, losing a smidgen of tension and was rubbing. The belt would be visibly frayed and, at least in my case, the majority of the shavings got caught right behind the carrier.

Easiest way to check this is to "see" if the smell gets worse at high RPM. Test it in a lower gear or out of gear. You'll outrun the smell at speed.