Burning smell

Aug 30, 2006 4 Replies

I have a slight burning smell coming from under the hood of my 1997 4L OHV V6 explorer with 130K miles. I smell the smell after I park in the garage. If I open the hood while the engine is running, I can faintly see steam/smoke rising up from the front of the engine. I can't tell exactly where it is coming from though. Does anywhere here have a technique to share that they use to pinpoint the location of whatever fluid it is that is leaking and vaporizing when it hits the engine? I don't have anything leaking onto the ground under the truck, so whatever it is isn't leaking very quickly. Oil, transmission fluid, and radiator fluid(which I suspect is the leak) are all normal. The truck has always used a little radiator fluid ever since I've had it. Probably a quart every 10K miles. Thanks.


Is it a burning rubber smell? My old 97 4.0 Ranger had a burning smell for a bit, it turned out to be the belt tensioner was dying. When it died, it took out my idler pulley. Talk about a PITA on the highway at midnight 65 miles from home..

Carl

Definately check your hoses for a pinhole leak...

I had that tensioner go out...mine started squealing first...took out the pulley & knocked out the serpentine belt (which I had just replaced

6 months prior)...what a mess.

Well I discovered it is oil that is leading to my burning smell. The wife had the truck out this evening and I noticed a small amount of engine oil on the garage floor. The next step is to figure out where the leak is coming from. Does anyone know of common locations of leak problems for this engine? It's a 4.0L OHV V-6 1997 2WD 4-door explorer. Thanks.

Join the Discussion

Have something to add? Share your thoughts — no account required.

Didn't find your answer?

Ask the community — no account required