Burning plastic(?) smell from somewhere under the hood

Joined
Feb 27, 2018
Messages
840
Location
Idaho
Yesterday I was driving home from work and a car in front of me kicked up a huge chunk of ice that ended up smacking something underneath my Pathfinder and right at that moment it got noticeably louder when accelerating. I thought it caused an exhaust leak.

I thought maybe one of the exhaust flanges or the flex pipe broke or something so at work today (I work at a quick lube) I pulled it into my bay and went down into the pit while it was running and I didn't see anything that was broken nor did I hear any exhaust leaks.

I then opened the hood and I was hit with the stench of what I assume is hot/burning plastic. Again, nothing looks broken, my radiator fans are working fine and not rubbing against anything, and there are no electrical issues that are new.

My Pathfinder was perfectly fine until whatever happened yesterday and now it smells like burning plastic and I can smell it in the cabin when I'm driving now too.

Does anyone here have any ideas of what it possibly can be? I plan to book a service appointment at the Nissan dealer out here to get it looked at but I'm curious what this could possibly end up being.
 
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