Over the last couple of weeks I have noticed a burning smell when I accelerate in 3rd and 4th gears. It happens mostly when I get on the highway. I notice the smell under hard or light acceleration. It kind of smells like the clutch burning, but yesterday I matched revs when shifting from 3rd to 4th and the smell was still present. Any idea's what it could be?


On another note, this is the first car I have ever used Mobil 1 in. The oil is very light in color when new. But now the oil has darkened. I also notice that I am down about a 1/4 of a quart of oil (2K miles). But I might have not filled it up 100% when I did my last oil change because its hard to see the new oil on the dip stick (plus worried about the smear factor when taking out the stick). I guess I was afraid to overfill. Does Mobil 1 get darker with use or is this a sure sign I am burning oil?


Thanks,

KJ

 

A lot of people on the board have reported a clutch-like smell during the first 1K miles. I had it as well for about 800 - 1000 miles. For about the the first 1000 miles, I also noticed that the clutch was really grabby, and it was hard to drive smoothly in first or second, even though I've been driving a manual since 1973. After the first 1000 miles, the smell went away and the clutch began operating much smoother. This could be what your experiencing, which seems to be almost normal for the Z, but I haven't heard of anyone having it for 2000 miles. Maybe more people can weigh in on this for how long they had the clutch smell.

 

My Z has 15K. I think the smell is only present when the RPM's are up around 4K or so, but never seem to notice it when in 1st or 2nd.

 

I had the same problem with my Z for the the first 800 or so miles! It sucked I felt like an a** cause it seemed like I was ridding my clutch. Oh weel I have 3K and it is fine-still notchy though from 2nd to 3rd... and 5th to 6th.

 

i would say there is something wrong.....my best guess is that your clutch is not fully disengaging.

Take it to the nissan dealer.

Its not your oil.....and yes oil gets dearker when used

 

I have a burning smell when Im slowly getting on it, But once at high rpm it goes away. It smell more like oil. My car has 29000 miles and just did the oil change 2k miles age. Mobli 1 5/30.

Brian

 

Yup, it is squared away-the smell is gone but like I said but the clutch is grabby! I hate that, I may add a short shifter, has anyone done this?

 

I have the same problem. At first, like you, I thought it was the clutch. However, like you, I also have abnormally high oil consumption (without obvious leakage). For the record, I am not using Mobil 1 or any other synthetic oil.

I think that the problem is that under moderate to hard acceleration (over 4K rpm) there is some oil leaking onto the exhaust manifold (which is why there are no obvious signs of leaking like puddles, etc.) The burning clutch smell is the oil being burnt off on the manifold (in my opinion).

My consumption is about 1 quart per 650 miles. My dealer is currently documenting the consumption to determine what they are going to do.

My suggestion is that you take it to your dealer and have them document your consumption (or hopefully find a leak).

Hope that helps,

Sherman

 

I have only smelled the burning smell once and that was when I redlined in second gear....

 

Check for leaky valve cover gaskets and by the way there is no way you can redline the Z has fuel cut off