bjsbuds

Flew to SC last week to pick up my first Porsche. I had a PPI inspection before purchasing and have an appointment scheduled the middle of November to have the IMS bearing replaced.

Felt pretty good after having the PPI inspection, but after driving her home now I find every time I drive her there is a really bad smell, kind of like burning. I haven't opened up the engine compartment but will tomorrow. The smell isn't coming from the engine vents, but it can be smelt from the wheels. Being a mid-engine is totally new to me after owning five BMWs.

Can anyone tell me if I need to be concerned and what I should be checking for?

Macster

Until you are sure the smell is nothing serious you need to be concerned. The car is new to you and assuming the PPI was thorough and you bought the car with no obvious/current issues but that doesn't mean an issue can't appear after you buy the car and begin using it.

These cars do stink a bit. The mid-engine location has the engine, drivetrain, exhaust, and rear tires and brakes all right together and located in a particularly warm place. A front engine car benefits considerably from the air through the radiator which removes heat from the engine compartment and flows under the car and helps keep the exhaust system cooler.

Another problem is the engine/exhaust is located at a particularly dirty place. Trash gets stirred up by the front tires and air blast from the car's nose and a piece of paper/plastic can make contact with a hot exhaust pipe and stick and char and stink.

Or if anything gets run over by the front or rear tires this can splash whatever is run over onto the hot exhaust. Most often my car stinks when driving in the rain. The water splash contacts the hot exhaust and there's an ozone like odor.

If you happen to run over some garbage or even the remains of a dead animal on the road, who knows what you can smell.

There have been reports too of owners when cleaning out the radiator ducts finding dead birds in amongst the trash.

So you need to get the engine cover off and expose the top of the engine and get the car on a lift and have from above and then from under the car looking for any fluid leaks.

While you are there look for rodent sign. I can't know from your description just exactly what you are smelling but a mouse might have died on top of the engine or on top of one of the under body panels. A nest of critters can dump over time a lot of trash on top of these panels that can really smell up the car.

Other places that can smell: Radiator ducts full of plant (or dead bird) trash. This stuff gets damp and can develop an odor.

The body water drains get plugged up and water collects in the drain basins and this can develop an odor. And risk flooding the cabin with water, so check the drains!

The cabin air filter can get dirty and stink.

The A/C evaporator can develop a growth of mold/mildew that can fill the car with a sour odor.

bjsbuds

Thank you for all the suggestions. I had a leak down test and an oil change to look for metal shavings in the filter at the time of the PPI. I wondered if they spilled some oil on the engine and that was causing the smell. In any event I am heading out to open the engine compartment and may jack her up too.

Mighty Shilling

Very difficult to spill oil on the engine. Power steering fluid however....

bjsbuds

I opened the engine compartment yesterday and then ran the engine in my garage for 30 minutes. The smell was not present. However, there was quite a bit of liquid on the right side of the floor. I touched and smelled the liquid and it sure seemed like water.

terbiumactivated

One good easy way to ID fluid is with a piece of white paper under the car. This way the color will be readily apparent. It would be a good idea to check the level of all the fluids and monitor them, sometimes coolant can be mistaken for water and it would certainly smell as it burned off.