Burning smell after car wash?

[s4579]

Just minutes after car wash, I noticed burning smell after a quick accelaration as I merged into highway. It is a distinct smell that's hard to describe but I did not see any smoke or any change in the way car performs. I checked under the hood when I got home but did not notice any smell or anything leaking. Anyone experienced peculiar smell after car wash? THanks.

[Matt C]

Cleaning agents burning off of the cat, motor? If no leaks or noticeable changes, I wouldn't worry about it.

[FatalBert]

Do you know what burning clutch smells like?

[s4579]

Do you know what burning clutch smells like?

I've had manual tranny before and know what clutch smell is like...

[FatalBert]

I've had manual tranny before and know what clutch smell is like...

Okay just wanted to rule that out then.

[SwankPeRFection]

Was this one of those car washes that sprays under your car as you drive in? If so, it could be stuff burning off your exhaust. Unless it keeps smelling like that after each acceleration, I wouldn't worry about it. Stop driving your car through car washes, it just leaves spots and the soaps they use can leave a bad film on your car's clear coat that causes a rainbow affect which is sometimes hard to get rid of depending on how abused the paint is over time.

[FatalBert]

Was this one of those car washes that sprays under your car as you drive in? If so, it could be stuff burning off your exhaust. Unless it keeps smelling like that after each acceleration, I wouldn't worry about it. Stop driving your car through car washes, it just leaves spots and the soaps they use can leave a bad film on your car's clear coat that causes a rainbow affect which is sometimes hard to get rid of depending on how abused the paint is over time.

+1 if you are taking your car through drive through washes I would try to refrain from that moving forward.

Although the OP never said he went through one.

[s4579]

yeah I did take the car through automatic car wash...I know I shouldn't but my family's in town and I needed a quick car wash, saw a place with nice cars getting washed figured it would be okay...lesson learned I guess. Anyways, I don't smell it anymore...thanks guys for replies.

[SwankPeRFection]

BTW, some of the conveyer ones that "pull" the car along can be even worse if they lock two of the wheels in place. That'll screw over your diffs/trans with the quickness. Some will just roll all 4 wheels, but there are the rare ones that you drive up and the front ones are locked in place up on small pads that then pull your car alone. I hope it wasn't one of those. BTW, it takes maybe 15 minutes to wash the car at home via a quick wash. Wet it down, suds up a bucket and wash roof/hood/windows/trunk, rinse, suds up another bucket and wash the doors and bumpers, rinse. Then rise the whole car again. Done. Dry it off or drive dry it if you don't have hard water that leaves spots. It does pretty quick if it's not dirty from months of dirt.

What I do is if I'm lazy about it, I get up put on some dingy clothes and go outside and wash the car for 20 minutes. Then I come in and start getting ready for the day. Now you're wide awake and ready to jump in the shower or whatnot and then when you're all done, the car is waiting on you all washed up and ready to go.

[afig367]

Do a few more pulls and see if you still get the smell. I had a smell in my cabin after very hard accelerations as well..... for me, it wasn't anything related to car washes.

I had an AWE with 6,000 miles on it, so fully "broken in," as well as the DSG. I never knew what the hell was causing it.

[s4579]

Oh boy I noticed similar smell once again this morning after a fairly hard accel. (No wot) just as I switched to dynamic mode. now im a little concerned b\c I just had intake put in couple days ago and afraid to contact my dealer about the smell. Likelihood this is related to the intake\ carwash? Thanks.

[Tweakophyte]

How many miles on the car?

[s4579]

1400. Car drives great btw. Smoother than before.

[FatalBert]

1400. Car drives great btw. Smoother than before.

After the carwash or after 1400 miles?[:D]