Well, maybe this was just me being over sensitive, but I still figured I would ask. After driving my Z today for about 20 min (just around the city, not aggressive at all), when I opened the door and stepped out of the car, I noticed a kind of burning smell. I disregarded it at first, cause there were some other cars parking near me, and it was about 75 outside, so maybe the heat and other stuff had to do with it. I come back an hour later, and drive back to school, and I didnt notice any smell while driving (normal, and then accelerating hard, no smell whatsoever), but when I park, I leave the car running and step out again. The smell was there again. I smelled/checked the engine, tires, exhaust, but the smell wasn't there. It seemed as if it was coming directly from the door panels, and right below them too. Driver side had it the strongest, then the passenger side a little bit. But it really seemed like it was coming from the bottom of the car, and just was spreading around the door panel (like where the door sill is). It wasn't a gas smell, nor like the egg smell some people talk about when they get their new cars - it just had a sort of burning scent to it. It's kinda weird, never had it or at least never noticed it before today (and I've been driving this car every single day for the past 60 days, lol )

So does anyone have any idea what this is, or does anyone else have this same thing? I'm not even sure if it's a problem, maybe it was just because the car was hot, and partly b/c of the tires?? Any ideas or thoughts?

thanks

-drew

'03 DB Performance

 

can you be more specific about the scent?

 

plastic bag melted and stuck on cat ,maybe

 

How many miles are on the Z?

 

I have about 3600 miles on her as of today. And I havent been out to drive her since this afternoon, so I probably wont be able to check again until tomorrow. It's hard to describe exactly what it smells like...definitely not a dead animal (as far as I know!) The closest thing it smells like is a mix b/w burnt rubber/plastic I think. I still have to check under the car and see if anything looks off, or just in the off case, there is a dead animal!

-drew

'03 DB Performance

 

From that description it sounds like the smell of the clutch!

 

Sounds like the clutch. Do you ride your clutch? That will burn it out.

 

I'm pretty sure its not the clutch. I burnt out the clutch on my last car, and the smell is different. But just in case I'm wrong I'll double check. I dont ride the clutch when I drive, and this is my 2nd car that is manual, so shouldnt be a problem on my part. The shifter isn't sticking, and I'm not feeling any reduction in power when accelerating (which I did notice when I burned out the clutch on my '01 jetta). I do remember hearing about some Z owners having to replace transmission, does any have the rough estimates of at which mileage this happened at? 3600 miles seems so young and new

thanks so far

-drew

'03 DB Performance

 

Tranny would be grinding or not allow you to put it in gear easily. Burn smell isn't a tranny issue I don't think.

 

It is what he said trust me.

 

me too. Mine is only 300 mi. Smells like tires burning. My commute is 36mi going avg of 70 mph. is it the tires?

 

Well i noticed the smell again, and my g/f was there too, she immediately said it smells like burning plastic or like a hot glue gun (whatever that smells like, lol). So Im actually almost positive it is a plastic bag under my baby some where. I dont know why, cause i know JJL and fairladyZ have brought it up, you both are right almost for sure. I dont know how i forgot, but today i DO remember running over a cvs bag yesterday, so maybe some of it is still under there. So thanks all!

-drew

'03 DB Performance

 

You all were right, there was a big white cvs plastic bag under there. But oh man, does this suck...its MELTED onto the exhaust! Like right up toward the beginning of the exhaust, its literally melted on to it! I have NO idea how Im gonna get it off of there! I tried pulling it off, its stuck. I haven't tried messing with it when the exhaust is still warm, just because I dont want melted plastic liquid sh*t on my hands, nor inhaling it. But some people I've already talked to said to just get through the smell, and let the exhaust melt all of the plastic until there's nothing left.

What do you all think I should do? Any advice for removing melted plastic from metal?

thanks again

-drew

'03 DB Performance

 

Probably do the same thing you would when you melt a rubber onto your pecker after nailing a tight girl really ridiculously hard.

 

drew,

It will eventually burn off, there is really nothing you can do. It takes time, but like I said it will burn all the way off.

 

same thing jus happened to me, i smelt this plastic smell under my car and looked and sure enuff a kroger bag burnt to the cat...i ripped the main part off but a good chunk is still on it?...should i jus let it burn off?>

 

If the area of the pipe that the bag is stuck to is accessible, you may be able to get some of it off by using a wire brush. The more you can get off, the sooner the remaining plastic will burn off.

If you can't reach it, then it will just have to burn off. Take a nice long ride on the freeway. You will get the heat up on the exhaust and the forward motion will keep you from smelling the bag as it burns off.

At least it is nothing serious........and that is a good thing.

 

HAHAHA

And nobody notices what he said lol