This evening I washed the car and decided to take a leisure drive . I didn't drive it too far but when i pulled into my garage I smelled the scent of burnt rubber . So I took the car back out for anotrher drive to see if it would go away or if a warning light would illuminate . The car drove perfectly , no warning lights, the scent was still there , but less .

Anyone with a PDK car experience this ?
I didn't drive the car hard and between the two drives it was about 40 minutes of driving . I never had the scent before . The car has 7K miles.

Thanks .

 

Cosmoline.

 

I miss that burnt rubber smell

 

I assume the smell is at the back end....I have the same thing...Dealer said it was normal...I think it is just the rubber getting on the exhaust system that is exposed in the rear wheel well.

 

Have a look at the underbody. You should see some rubber pileup that is being burned off by the exhaust.

 

Yep Cosmoline.... my car always smells like that.

Even went back through the previous owners maintenance records and he had the same complaint.

Cosmoline... mine should be all burnt off soon....

Jason

 

I burnt my Cosmoline off a long time ago...yep at the track! From time to time my brakes smell when I have my race pads in for a track event.

 

What is cosmoline??

 

Thanks guys --What a nice group of replies .

I knew about cosmoline but i thought that it burned off when the car was new .
I did not know about the rubber and wheel well and yes it was from the back end . I wonder why i never smelled it before . I do drive the car and constantly smell the garage after i drive it to be sure its completely aired out before shutting the door . I will get under the car tomorrow when it's light out to see . The car is due for routine service as well but planned to go next week . I am really glad its not a PDK issue .

Thanks again .

 

I have heard cosmoline is normally all burnt off at 14K under normal driving conditions. Guys tracking or operating their engines at high temps for long periods of time will burn theirs off faster.

Of course this is all hearsay though....

Jason

 

I have 32k on my car and still smell that stuff after a spirited drive. Oil level fine, no issues, fairly new tires on rear.

 

Funny, I too have that smell and thought it was due to my new tires. I'm at around 10k miles and do not track. Good thing it isn't something worse

 

I get something like this as well at times. I always thought it was road grim burning off the exhaust after a spirited drive. Perhaps you got some soap or cleaners on the exhaust and they are burning off?

I'm surprised you've never noticed it until now though... keep driving and checking - if it continues to seem abnormal, maybe there's something else going on. Certainly a clutch burning up would have a bit of a burning rubber type smell, but you would most likely notice other symptoms like chattering, etc as well...

 

ditto.
when i bought my car with 14k miles (the prev owner averaged < 5k/yr), i still constantly smelled that odor.. especially after a spirited drive.

 

30k miles and after a spirited run, still smells like something is burning. Can't tell what it is, but after 10k miles figure it can't be anything wrong.