After a 2 day break, took the car for a spin. Drove it to my favorite road about 4 miles away. Once I got there i went for it.

In 2nd and 3rd I took it almost to red line and then there was this terrible burning smell. it went away shortly after.

Is this normal? Was the car not warm enough? Cause for concern?

 

burning your brakes?

 

most likely it was the exhaust. i assume u shifted perfectly which is impossible to be the clutch.

 

Could be cosmolene burning off. I still get that sometimes when I park.

 

I get that smell too now and them - cosmolene.

Speaking of smells...do any of you with new 997s get a clutch smell sometimes in traffic? I am not riding the clutch it just seems to give that horrific clutch smell more than I recall from any of my other "manual" transmission cars. User error? Normal for 997S models that are brand new??

 

Might want to get that checked out. I've never smelled clutch on my car. Are you letting off the clutch and sitting in neutral or are you holding the clutch in with the tranny in gear most of the time?

 

whats cosmolene?

 

Waxy non-polar coating that they spray all over the underside and engine of the cars to prevent rust during ocean transport. They never get all of it off at port or at the dealership.

 

I just took my car to Porsche for that same smell yesterday, they told me cosmolene. I have 1700 miles, thought that smell would go away by now, but its the undercoating burning smell, yukky...

 

I thought I could give my expertise here guys. I've recently detailed some new 997s pre-delivery for clients at our local Porsche dealer. That smell is cosmoline from the underbody and some overspray on the exhaust. As for the exterior paint, I've been told that Porsche no longer does that since the whole car is wrapped. I believe it because during the claying process, I did not feel any cosmoline. As for removing it, Zymöl makes a product called Strike. It is designed to safely, and naturally, remove cosmoline. Here are some before/after pic on a 996 wheel. Hope this helps.

 

Here's the after pic