Burning smell

[Mooneywa]

Guys-
I have a strange problem. When I go on long road trips (I drove from OK to CO and WY) I start to get a distinct burning smell. It only happens on trips greater than 5 or 6 hours and when it happens it's around for a while. It never happens when I am just driving around town but only on long, highway-speed trips. I have the 6MT and I don't know what a burning clutch smells like but I don't think it is the clutch because I have no slipping and it never happens around town (when the clutch is constantly being used). Of the three major road trips that I have taken this smell has presented itself twice and both were trips to high(er) altitude locations (Denver, Jackson Hole, etc). The other trip was to Illinois and the smell never materialized. I typically drive 80-85 on the highway and I don't ride the clutch or the brakes or anything. After the road trip the smell goes away after a day or two of relatively limited driving and is gone until the next roadtrip. I'm going to take it in to the dealer but that won't be for another month when I get back from deployment so I'm looking now for some possibilities to address. I'm pretty lost and clueless - any ideas?

[nimski62]

Guys-
I have a strange problem. When I go on long road trips (I drove from OK to CO and WY) I start to get a distinct burning smell. It only happens on trips greater than 5 or 6 hours and when it happens it's around for a while. It never happens when I am just driving around town but only on long, highway-speed trips. I have the 6MT and I don't know what a burning clutch smells like but I don't think it is the clutch because I have no slipping and it never happens around town (when the clutch is constantly being used). Of the three major road trips that I have taken this smell has presented itself twice and both were trips to high(er) altitude locations (Denver, Jackson Hole, etc). The other trip was to Illinois and the smell never materialized. I typically drive 80-85 on the highway and I don't ride the clutch or the brakes or anything. After the road trip the smell goes away after a day or two of relatively limited driving and is gone until the next roadtrip. I'm going to take it in to the dealer but that won't be for another month when I get back from deployment so I'm looking now for some possibilities to address. I'm pretty lost and clueless - any ideas?

1.) Valve cover gaskets- oil dripping on hot exhaust., common problem

2.) The tranny may be blowing a few drops on the exhaust (venting). Ive heard this being a common problem also., particularly on long trips this smells much diff than oil burning

3.) Burning clutch smells like burning paper.

[Mooneywa]

Very helpful. Is there anyway I can visually look at the valve cover gaskets to see if they are leaking? I'm moderately inexperienced when it comes to prowling around the engine bay - I considered replacing the spark plugs DIY to be a relatively difficult task haha.

Is the venting on the transmission a normal thing? Wouldn't that mean I'd be running fairly low on tranny fluid soon?

[nimski62]

Very helpful. Is there anyway I can visually look at the valve cover gaskets to see if they are leaking? I'm moderately inexperienced when it comes to prowling around the engine bay - I considered replacing the spark plugs DIY to be a relatively difficult task haha.

Is the venting on the transmission a normal thing? Wouldn't that mean I'd be running fairly low on tranny fluid soon?

Umm, i think if you ran your finger along the bottom of the COLD (make sure you do this before your car gets up to temperature) valve covers, if you saw oil on your fingers.. other than that it usually is such a small leak that you wouldn't see it on your driveway. And yes the transmission thing is supposed to be normal, and has a much sharper, weirder smell.. and our trannys hold a lot of quarts, and a drip here and there isn't going to matter much.

[SpfldS4]

Heh...my wife has the same odor from her 04 4.2L allroad 5AT, it goes in for service Wed. I poked around but can't find anything. She's starting to not like the thing service wise and I can't blame her. It seems like it's in the shop every month. And now my trunk latch is busted...sigh.

[fitzS4]

its prolly a valve cover gasket......

[cellg8]

Happened to me but it turned out to be a plastic bag got stuck on the bottom of the car and started melting...

[ChronicTeutonic]

Have you removed the splash pan to see if any oil is dripping? Valve covers were leaking so badly that I had oil coming off the roll bar. Dealer fixed mine under warranty.

[sakimano]

Heh...my wife has the same odor from her 04 4.2L allroad 5AT, it goes in for service Wed. I poked around but can't find anything. She's starting to not like the thing service wise and I can't blame her. It seems like it's in the shop every month. And now my trunk latch is busted...sigh.

pretty awesome cars. put your S4 4.2 and her Allroad 4.2 together, bang on 4 turbos and you've got yourselves a Veyron!

[jerrym]

driving error.
its the clutch .. lol

[aalipio]

I had the same problem driving to San Diego from Vegas... only happened when i was going up hill so i thought something was leaking onto the exhaust manifold... pulled over and couldnt find anything...
Took it to the dealer and explained the smell and what was happening, come to find out it's a dump snorkle for the tranny flluid?!?!... dont know the specifics because i was a bit reluctant to believe the dude but when i got the car back- problem solved. Look into it and ask your dealer about a snorkle for the tranny fluid... i think it was a recall because it didnt come stock or something.

Hope that helped.

[Mooneywa]

All of these help. I have an appt. with the dealer when I get back - it was very strange since it only happens on long trips.

[Beelzeebub]

hopefully you didnt run over a squirrel that got stuck to the undercarriage and is slowly becoming a bbq.

[Mooneywa]

Nah, now that I'm not driving 950 miles in a day - the smell is gone. Although squirrel with a little bbq sauce is pretty tasty.

[sakimano]

on Gordon Ramsay's show 'The F Word' they cooked a squirrel. It went over well.

Nah, now that I'm not driving 950 miles in a day - the smell is gone. Although squirrel with a little bbq sauce is pretty tasty.

[Mooneywa]

I had a rabbit in survival school which wasn't too bad, I can't imagine squirrel would be real good. Not very much meat either.

[SpfldS4]

Well I got the allroad back from the dealer. The prop-shaft was leaking transmission fluid onto the exhaust cats. They replaced the seal with a new style kit and flange. The rest of the fluid needs to burn off and all should be back to normal. Minor one day repair which was nice and I got an 09 2.0T A4 as a rental....nice car, peppy but no 4.2L. Also the lines are way too similar to the 335 /sigh. On a side note it has a built in turbo timer, the trunk opens automatically and the new key system is pretty cool.