Hey all, I tried using the search, but couldn't find a definitive answer.

I've been getting this burning smell which seems to be coming from the tires or brakes? Everything in the car seems to be running normal and I haven't been driving it hard. My car is completely stock too. The only answer I have found so far is that this smell sometimes occurs in the first few hundred miles, but my car has around 42,xxx.

Anyone else have this sort of problem or know what might be going on?

 

Is there something hitting your exhaust such as a plastic bag or something you may have picked up along the way? have you changed your brakes recently?

 

What year Z? Oil burner maybe... How's the clutch? Do you have to crush the pedal to the floor to engage?

 

check your rear subframe bushing. its a black hole thingy. I know it sounds weird but i just had a problem with a burning smell and it was the fluid from my cracked bushing that leaked onto my exhaust. GL

 

The location of odors can be deceiving. What seems to be coming from the wheel-tire area may be coming from the engine bay. You should be able to recognize a acrid odor from the clutch. Or the sweet odor of coolant.

Instead of guessing take your car to a mechanic.

 

dont worry about it. my did the same thing too. some kind of substances in your exhaust or header is burning. most z has that smell when new. If you drove your z hard enough it will get burn completely and you wont smell it again. my z got rid of that smell when it reached 50k mark. My other z got rid of it at 30k mark. it is depened on how hard you drive your z.

 

If you think it's your brakes. after you start smelling it stop the car then spit on the rotors. If its sizzles like a hot plate then your brakes are dragging. Or you can coast the car in neutral and you should notice if a brake it dragging.

 

Thanks for all the responses,

It's a 2004, the clutch seems fine and no I haven't changed the brakes since I've gotten it. The smell is more of a burnt rubber sort of smell. I'll check it out again later and then if it persists bring it over to my mechanic.

 

after you use the brakes to stop the car your rotors will be hot from stopping so try the neutral coast to see if the brakes are dragging

 

do you have an amplifier in the car? the audio shop could have installed it wrong and the burning wire smell could be your amplifier wire getting hot

 

Hmm, all I have in it is a new radio head unit and the smell occurs outside of the car, but I'll check this out also.


The brakes feel fine right now, I haven't noticed any dragging or anything else unusual from them, but that's where the smell seems to be coming from.

 

Ha! This happened to me. It took me 2 months to figure it out.

 

yeah same here so now i do all the work on my z so i know its done right.

 

its your family cat burning to deff ova n ova while you drive the highwayz.

Shame on you.

 

It could possibly be your A/C. If you have the A/C set to bring in fresh air instead or recycling the air. The air vent will actually bring in some of the smell off of the engine, giving it a burning smell. I thought something was wrong also until I pressed the button to recycle the air and not bring in air from the outside. You might try that.

 

+1 on this. I had a similar issue with my G35 and it turns out a plastic bag was melted on my muffler when I drove on the highway.

 

Hey all, thanks for all the help. I brought it over to Nissan the other day and it happened to be the brakes causing the smell. They froze up and I had to get new calibers and pads installed. All is well now!