Burning smell from front of car (02 elantra GT)

Hello all,
I have a burning smell comming from me driving the car (when I get
out of the car after a drive I notice it). It has 83K miles on it and
the timing belt still has not been changed. Any ideas/thoughts would be
appreciated.

-assad

 

Burning smell takes in a lot of possibilities. Could be oil dripping on the
exhaust manifold, could be a belt ready to let go, Could be an electric fan
motor burning up, wires touching something hot,.

 

Agreed. Was vague.
Ok, so looks like no oil dripping on the manifold.

Belts look fairly old.
Have not changed the timiing belt (could it be that?)

how would I check for:
electric fan motor burning up?
wires touching something hot?

should I be checking for anything else?

At 83K what should be expected to be going from a 02 elantra?

Thanks.

-assad

 

caught a shopping back on your catalytic converter? those can smell for
awhile until they melt away.

 

Then replace them.

No, not likely, but you're risking destroying your engine by not
changing it. Letting it go is false economy at best.

Nothing in particular. A "burning smell" doesn't tell us much, as there
are many types of burning smells. It could be a dragging brake pad,
burning wiring, a belt rubbing on something, etc. It sounds like you're
not keeping up with the maintenance on the car. I'd say it's time to get
caught up on what you've neglected to do. If nothing else, that will
eliminate some possible sources of the smell.

 

you seem to be awful concerned about the timing belt causing the burning
smell.

your best bet would be to have a mechanic take the belt off and inspect it
thoroughly, and then replace it with a new one, since you are driving on
borrowed time right now.

 

I have a 2003 Hyundai Elantra GT with 90000 miles and recently experienced a persistent burning smell, noticeable in the passenger compartment but coming from the front of the car. It turned out to be a failing hose clamp on a power steering fluid line coming out of the power steering reservoir and going into the engine (the bad clamp was on the engine side of this hose). It was apparently spraying a fine mist of power steering fluid (presumably only while driving/turning) all over. Despite the persistent leak, only a slight amount of power steering fluid was lost; the reservoir is still just barely below the MAX line. This fluid would get on the front of the engine block, and drip down near the oil filter. I don't think it ever got close to the exhaust. Just the heat of the engine block seems to be enough to vaporize this fluid. It's awful! Anyway, the solution was a new 5 dollar hose clamp followed by an 80 dollar engine steam clean.

Before discovering this issue, my mechanics tried several other remedies, including replacing the valve cover gasket to stop a tiny oil leak; replacing torn CV boots which were spattering grease on the underside of the car; replacing a bad exhaust manifold gasket which some white powder revealed to be leaking; and replacing a water pump that was leaking some coolant. All those repairs were needed, and most of these repairs helped reduce the burning smell. But it was the power steering hose clamp and subsequent engine steam clean that solved the issue.