new boot joints and rubber burning odor

Hi,

This is about a 1997 Honda Civic. I just had all 4 boots replaces yesterday but there is a rubber burning odor from under the hood. The mechanic said to just keep driving it. My question is what could be the cause and would there be permanent damage if I keep driving it?

Thanks, Faith

Reply to
faith20879
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what kind of boots? driveshaft? steering rack? suspension joint? spark plug? more importantly, what kind of mechanic and what was the problem?

Reply to
jim beam

Hi Jim,

Thanks for your reply.

I believe they are for the driveshaft. A couple of months ago, I took the car in for the 75,000 mile checkup and the dealer said the boots were a little cracked and needed to be replaced pretty soon. I then called around and found this garage that charges a little less. They are the mechanic division of a well known body shop in my area.

Thanks, Faith

Reply to
faith20879

snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com wrote in news:ec07fd4a-28b0-42b0-a968-646f895d6137@

8g2000hse.googlegroups.com:

A rubber burning odor under the hood is often a slipping accessory drive belt. Better get them checked. Your guy should have done that before telling you to ignore it.

Reply to
Tegger

ok, but this should not cause burning rubber smell.

my thoughts are that tegger is probably correct, a slipping accessory belt can indeed be the cause of this smell. but i'm still suspicious of the necessity of the work you had done because if it was not done right, given that one of the driveshaft boots is near the exhaust, a driveshaft may not be seated correctly and be touching and burning.

my caution is because the outer driveshaft boots do indeed crack, but the inner ones hardly ever. in fact, i have 18 year old oem driveshafts in my crx, and while the outer boots have been changed, the inner ones are still great, and there is no reason to compromise them unless they're broken in some way. they don't have to flex much in use so they don't crack the same way as the outer joint boots. they never get exposed to the sun either. for a shop to recommend the inner boots as well as the outer is mostly inexpert job creation.

Reply to
jim beam

Hi all,

This is an update. BTW, I learned the boots are for the CV joint. I could see them under from bending over the engine. Sorry about the wrong info I gave out earlier.

I took the car back to the shop Monday morning. The guy apologized profusely and promised to get it right. By the evening, after he put in a new set of boots, tightened up whatever were loose before, gave me a free oil change, and took it for a road test, he declared the car was now problem-free.

On the way home the car was fine. But Tuesday the rubber burning smell returned, though not as strong. I first smelled it through the vent when stopped at the traffic light. I thought maybe it was the residual but it persisted after 50 miles and 24 hours.

I took it back to the shop again this morning. The guy again apologized profusely and said he couldn't think of what to say except to take another look.

I left the car there but I have no confidence on this guy now. What would you do?

Any opinion will be greatly appreciated!

Faith

Reply to
faith20879

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Most Hondas will dribble a bit of oil on the exhaust pipe when the oil filter is removed / replaced. You should LOOK to see if you can tell where the smoke /smell is coming from.

The more times you give it to him, the more chances he has of really messing something up.

'Curly'

Reply to
motsco_

snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com wrote in news:e2a9316e-29bf-40f1-b253- snipped-for-privacy@a1g2000hsb.googlegroups.com:

Did he check the accessory drive belts to see if they were slipping? Did he check any of the pulleys/idler wheels to see if they were seizing up? Those two are common sources of rubber burning smells.

Reply to
Tegger

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