A few days ago, I was reversing up an inclined driveway (~25% slope) and I thought I caught a slight burning smell, though it rapidly dissipated. Yesterday, I did the same, and not only smelled something similar to burning insulation, but saw a small puff of smoke from the passenger side hood vent. I looked under the hood but didn't see anything that looked burnt or amiss. This driveway does have some weeds and things sprouting in it, so I suppose it's remotely possible that some of this vegetation got scorched due to proximity to the exhaust (though this wouldn't explain smoke from the hood). Car acts normal in every other respect... Kind of a crazy issue - has anyone had a similar occurrence or have any ideas?

Thanks, DRW

 

That would be your clutch ;-)

 

Clutch! You might wanna refrain from reversing up inclines.

 

It's not really burning any more in R than in 1. R is a bit taller a gear than 1, but we feather the clutch more in R because nobody is as confident backing these up as they are driving them forward. The reason you smell it is because the reverse airflow pushes the burn up into the cabin that you don't get in forward where the airflow pushes it back and away from the cabin.

 

Smells like dead presidents

 

 

 

You'd think after 2 years I'd know where the front, back, and corners of my car are. Nope, not a clue. I crawl and put the parking sensors on anytime I'm pulling up or backing up to anything!