Mystery diagnosis: burning wax smell from engine?

[jdeare]

Car is my beloved (ha!) 2001 Buick Regal LS, 3800 nonsupercharged.

Over the last few days, I have noticed a very distinct burning/melting wax smell coming from my engine/engine bay after I have been on the highway (normal commute is ~45 miles a day, mostly highway at 70+ mph). I looked under the hood and under the car and did not see any obvious signs of anything burning.

I have previously noted that there is a burning oil smell that comes from the engine when it is hot, that I can smell while driving if the windows are open. This is the same way.

After my commute this morning I popped the hood and almost retched... burning oil or whatever and burning wax do not combine well aromatically.

Any ideas what this might be?

And while I don't use Pennzoil, I do use a SOPUS product (Formula Shell)...

 

[Kestas]

Hard to diagnose a smell over the internet. Can you optimize the lighting conditions to look for smoke after a run?... like a shop light at night. Check for something that may have recently splattered itself onto the exhaust system.

 

[jdeare]

Yeah, I was hoping the smell would be something specific that someone else would know...

I'm not sure about the lighting. I'll probably have to use a flashlight or something, since I don't have a garage.

 

[smokey1]

gotta be from the use of PENNZOIL . Do it every time .

 

[Tosh]

Keep a very close eye (at least daily) on all the fluid levels, like coolant. Best to have a serious search by someone who knows what they're looking at from above and below before something worse happens. I wouldn't drive it until I found an explanation. Hopefully it's just a piece of trash melting away somewhere...

 

[StevieC]

Maybe it's oil leaking onto the engine from the valve-cover's?

Was this one of the cars included in the recent recall issued by GM?

Otherwise I would say it's the Pennzoil!

(J/K)

 

[jdeare]

I knew some of you guys would get the Pennzoil reference...

My car was under the recall. I've had the burning oil smell for a while, and having the recall fix done didn't change it (honestly... the recall was a joke, they replaced a plastic thingy with 3 wire looms).

Not driving it is not really an option. I have to get to work. But I will keep an eye on the fluids, and also hope that I just ran over something that's burning away...

 

[StevieC]

Just keep an eye on all fluids and keep checking under the hood, it will eventually turn up.

Gonna be one of those hard things to find I'm sure...

In the meantime stop using Pennzoil unless you want your engine to turn into a giant candle!

 

[Tosh]

Originally Posted By: jdeare
My car was under the recall. I've had the burning oil smell for a while, and having the recall fix done didn't change it (honestly... the recall was a joke, they replaced a plastic thingy with 3 wire looms).

How long ago was that? Maybe something they did wrong is turning up now.

 

[jdeare]

I'd have to look at the receipt to get the exact date, but it was approximately 2 months ago/2500 miles ago. I looked under the hood this evening and nothing in that area has changed (also no signs of melting).

Additionally, the smell was much diminished. So probably some garbage underneath somewhere...

 

[Chris142]

Probly a garbage bag melting on the cat converter.

 

[StevieC]

Originally Posted By: Chris142
Probly a garbage bag melting on the cat converter.
I had that on my Dodge Caravan and it stunk for years in the summer heat. Couldn't get the smell to go away until the stainless steel pipe finally broke and I replaced it all from the engine back.

 

[mechtech2]

Anti freeze/coolant or a dead critter.

 

[smokey1]

to bad PENNZOIL doesn't make scented motor oil for your engine . AHHHHHHHHHH ! Apple cinnamon .

 

[jdeare]

I would probably go for pine scented. That would make my car greener, right?

I'm going to put the car up on ramps this weekend and really get in there... hopefully I don't find a dead bird crammed between the exhaust and the bottom of the car...

 

[saberz]

Originally Posted By: StevieC
Originally Posted By: Chris142
Probly a garbage bag melting on the cat converter.
I had that on my Dodge Caravan and it stunk for years in the summer heat. Couldn't get the smell to go away until the stainless steel pipe finally broke and I replaced it all from the engine back.

Happened on my impala and it smelt like burnt plastic/wax for weeks / months. Finally went to my friends shop, through it up on the lift and sure enough it melted on my Magnaflow exhaust. Took a torch on low heat, and a scraper. Went to town and after 45 minutes it was clean of all that [censored]. Smell was gone after that.

 

[jdeare]

Just a quick note... I think my coolant level is going down. I will need to check it more often to be sure though.

 

[mrsilv04]

Originally Posted By: jdeare
Just a quick note... I think my coolant level is going down. I will need to check it more often to be sure though.


Gah! On a 3800, that's not good.

Watch it closely... Outside of that, the 3800 is a bulletproof (but not C4C proof) engine.

 

[saberz]

3.8 is a beastly engine and practically bulletproof except for the gaskets. With 100k on my Impala I haven't had a need for it yet, just did the 2nd coolant flush in 8 years on it. Was a bit goopy this time around with the Dexcool but clean afterwards. I only had to top it up maybe 1 time in 8 years.

 

[silverrat]

Check power steering fluid level (hard to do on these engines?) My Monte Carlo had a pinhole leak in the ps lines. It wouldnt leak unless it was under pressure. Didnt figure out the smell until my power steering went dry and it made a rubbing noise while turning.