Burning Smell

[Pudgey Roy]

How's it hanging there lads!
I took me lovely red bird out today for a spin as the sun was shining in a lovely clear blue sky. I was after driving for about an hour, and Roy Orbison came on singing Pretty Woman when I noticed a burning smell! it was only for a few seconds and was like that smell you get from oil on the manifold. It went away, and came back for only seconds again later on. I checked all the fluid levels and had a mooch about under the bonnet, but I could not see any obvious leak. Any ideas?

Pudgey

[dchamb]

Sonds like an intermitent drip on the exaust system. I had that with power steering fluid. Keep a close eye under the car where you park, you may find a spot or 2 for a clue.

[George]

Roy:
I know a number of owners that have had this issue. I'll post their comments below for you:

"I had this problem from the first day I picked up the car. I found oil leaking down the right [curb] side exhaust manifold pipe. Because it was hot, it was burning off and not leaking to the ground. My Ford dealer first tried to replace the valve cover gaskets ...no help, Then they had to [are you ready for this?] PULL out the engine and reseal it, that cost Ford $ 3000. That seems to fix the leak but I had to take the car back twice to get all the things the mechanic left loose redone"

"I have an ‘02 with 40,000 miles on it. I had the same smell that turns out to be the dip stick tube was leaking, and needed to be replaced. This is the second time this has been done. That took care of the smell."

"The oil smell we had was because they did not tighten down something at the back of the engine when they replaced the gaskets on the engine after they repaired the c.o.p. problem. The oil leaked heavily. (not even sure of what gaskets they had to replace)."

"Valve cover gasket on Drivers side I had to replace mine at 72,000."

"Our ‘02 had the exact same symptoms. Took it to 3 different dealers before the last one found a valve cover gasket leaking. Never leaked enough to spot the floor, but enough to get on the exhaust and smell the car up after driving 5 - 10 minutes."

"Mine was the whole right hand valve cover gasket. The first two shops (Ford Dealers) that could not find the leak said that it for sure wasn't either valve cover gasket. The 3rd dealer which is the one I bought the car from said it was the passenger side v.c. gasket. Apparently they were right as have never had the smell again."

"After crawling under the car and carefully looking and feeling around I found a small (and I mean small) area on the passenger side valve cover where the oil was leaking . The amount was miniscule but because of the position of the leak it was dropping right on top of the exhaust header and burning off after 5 or 6 miles of driving. The drivers side was dry all around .
A bit of research on the Lincoln LS forum lead me to a page showing the process for replacing the gasket so armed with that knowledge, off I go to the Ford dealer. They had never experienced a gasket leak before on an LS or TBird and didn't have one in stock - ordered and came in 3 days. $86 Canadian dollars later I held the gasket kit in hand, wondering how these simple pieces of rubber could be worth that much money."

I hope this info helps you - Afterall, that's what the forum is all about!

[Pudgey Roy]

Thank you for that George!
I shall have the valve covers looked at first! I suppose any old idiot can change those, as they are all idots where I live in Hampshire. Every time I bring a car in for repair, it comes back with more things wrong with, do you have that kind of thing in the USA? The best car I ever had, was a 1965 Plymouth Barracuda 225ci. It was American made and gave me 8 years of completely trouble free motoring with ony an oild change once a year and a new set of shocks. I used it everyday in all weathers, and I miss her very much I think you are all being too hard on American made cars! I now drive a 98 Firebird convertible as my everyday car, and it too is very reliable.

Pudgey

[George]

Roy:
Glad I could be of some help. If you read some of those closely, the drip can be ever so slight on the manifold or pipes, so you need to look closely.
As for dealers, over here it has a lot to do with the dealers themselves. Especially with the TBirds. There are so few of the Birds around that the service people are not that familiar with them.
Anyone I know that has had trouble with Ford dealers and TBirds, I encourage them to go to Lincoln/Mercury dealers.
Mainly because, A) The drive train is same as Lincoln LS, B) They are certainly familiar with that drive line and C) They are more upscale dealers then our basic Ford dealers.
Of course you may not have that luxury over there.

[dchamb]

What a great idea George. I agree on a,b, and c. Lincoln engine, transmission, etc. Makes sense.

[Dottie L. Simar]

Thank you again for your research on the burning smell. I have printed all the suggestions and will take it to my Ford Dealer for them to explore where the problem is with the burning smell.

You guys are great!

Thanks

granitelady

[George]

Good to hear from you again Dottie. Let us know how you make out.

I guess there's no chance you'll be in the Granite State on 6-15, we'll be in Canterbury, NH for Thunderama, if you are.