Burning rubber smell from back of car, while just driving on ECO.

[gagnona]

Not while charging. Not coming from the heater.
Drive for 15 km and there it is. Coming from close to the back wheel, passenger side.
Went to dealership, they could not find anything wrong.

Just like it's saying "BOO" and that it's going to cost me lots.
Sounds like today's cars.

Am I going to be a statistic?
That is the question.

 

[PHEV07]

Not while charging. Not coming from the heater.
Drive for 15 km and there it is. Coming from close to the back wheel, passenger side.
Went to dealership, they could not find anything wrong.

Just like it's saying "BOO" and that it's going to cost me lots.
Sounds like today's cars.

Am I going to be a statistic?
That is the question.

The next time you notice the smell, stop the car and touch left rear tire rim at the centre, then the right side one and compare temperature to the touch. Might be a sticky calliper.

 

[gagnona]

The next time you notice the smell, stop the car and touch left rear tire rim at the centre, then the right side one and compare temperature to the touch. Might be a sticky calliper.

Thanks for the intelligent response!
No smell today... So I could not validate.

I've heard about having a dud tire (which makes no sense, since the smell is intermittent).
I also heard about the battery floor and some connector cooking (again, intermittent, so, no.).
I also heard of exhaust pipe touching a wire... Again, same philosophy.

This is the most intelligent I've heard/read.
This fits with my intermittent scenario.
I'm actually looking forward to detect that smell again.

Thanks again .

 

[NightPHEVer]

My 2014 GX4h has always had a burning rubber smell when the 'Charge' button is pressed (to charge the big EV battery). From what I can remember this was a common occurance on the first generation of Outlander PHEV's. There will be historic discussion regarding this on this forum. Don't know about the later models though. Mine still does this although I'd say the smell isn't quite as strong as it once was. Don't believe an explanation for the source of this smell was ever discovered.

I had a jammed brake caliper on my Smart car once (brake pipe collapsed internally causing caliper to stick on). I made the mistake of touching the disc to see how hot it was - my finger momentarily stuck to it. The ticking noise and the smoke should have been a clue. The smell from a stuck disc isn't usually burning rubber though, more burning brake pad (bit like a fried clutch smell) and some smoke too. Wouldn't have thought the heat generated from a hot disc/wheel would get as far as the tyre without a lot of scary smoke and smell first. Maybe hold a bit of wood on to the disc to find out - not your finger.

A flat tyre will cause a burning rubber smell. I've experienced that too on an Escort Cosworth rally car where the tyre had actually disintegrated - just a ring of rubber left each side of the rim. I definitely recall the smell of burning rubber on that occasion.

 

[Haenzel]

Not while charging. Not coming from the heater.
Drive for 15 km and there it is. Coming from close to the back wheel, passenger side.
Went to dealership, they could not find anything wrong.

Just like it's saying "BOO" and that it's going to cost me lots.
Sounds like today's cars.

Am I going to be a statistic?
That is the question.

Some say it is the rubber particles from the road surface that are thrown against the exhaust. I never believed this. I think it is the torque converter...
I smell it occasionally when driving in the mountains (climbing) or whilst towing...

 

[gagnona]

Some say it is the rubber particles from the road surface that are thrown against the exhaust. I never believed this. I think it is the torque converter...
I smell it occasionally when driving in the mountains (climbing) or whilst towing...

G'day sir,

I share the same opinion regarding rubber particles from the road.
With the amount of cars that drive on that road, if there was rubber in the asphalt, it would have been all used up a long time ago... I believe.
Also, the intermittence always happens on the same route, therefore, I should keep looking.

I really don't like the idea of the "torque converter"...
Sounds like a budget killer.
I will look into that one if the caliper theory fails.

Thanks for your input.

 

[gagnona]

My 2014 GX4h has always had a burning rubber smell when the 'Charge' button is pressed (to charge the big EV battery). From what I can remember this was a common occurance on the first generation of Outlander PHEV's. There will be historic discussion regarding this on this forum. Don't know about the later models though. Mine still does this although I'd say the smell isn't quite as strong as it once was. Don't believe an explanation for the source of this smell was ever discovered.

I had a jammed brake caliper on my Smart car once (brake pipe collapsed internally causing caliper to stick on). I made the mistake of touching the disc to see how hot it was - my finger momentarily stuck to it. The ticking noise and the smoke should have been a clue. The smell from a stuck disc isn't usually burning rubber though, more burning brake pad (bit like a fried clutch smell) and some smoke too. Wouldn't have thought the heat generated from a hot disc/wheel would get as far as the tyre without a lot of scary smoke and smell first. Maybe hold a bit of wood on to the disc to find out - not your finger.

A flat tyre will cause a burning rubber smell. I've experienced that too on an Escort Cosworth rally car where the tyre had actually disintegrated - just a ring of rubber left each side of the rim. I definitely recall the smell of burning rubber on that occasion.

Thanks for sharing your experience..
I hope I don't end up in the same category, whereas, the source was never found.

Thanks for the finger warning, I will make sure that my digits don't experience the same pain.
The touching of the center of the rim should buffer me from the disk without taking the wheel off.

Smoke???
Now, that's a wife scarer...
I want to fix it before giving my wife the "eebie-jibees".
That's a tough level of management.

Cheers!

 

[greendwarf]

Thanks for sharing your experience..
I hope I don't end up in the same category, whereas, the source was never found.

Thanks for the finger warning, I will make sure that my digits don't experience the same pain.
The touching of the center of the rim should buffer me from the disk without taking the wheel off.

Smoke???
Now, that's a wife scarer...
I want to fix it before giving my wife the "eebie-jibees".
That's a tough level of management.

Cheers!

It is true that there has always bee a tendency to produce a burning smell, which has always been put down to the exhaust burning off stuff especially after the car has not been used in ICE mode for some time i.e. there has been a build up, which would normally been burnt off as it formed if the ICE is running. As it goes away after a few days nobody has investigated further and there have never been any reports in 10 years of any further real problems arising!

 

[PHEV07]

Thanks for the intelligent response!
No smell today... So I could not validate.

I've heard about having a dud tire (which makes no sense, since the smell is intermittent).
I also heard about the battery floor and some connector cooking (again, intermittent, so, no.).
I also heard of exhaust pipe touching a wire... Again, same philosophy.

This is the most intelligent I've heard/read.
This fits with my intermittent scenario.
I'm actually looking forward to detect that smell again.

Thanks again .

When I had my 2018, I used notice a rubber Smell when driving the car in the winter as well as summer.

Ended up being a sticking Calliper on the left rear driver side.


When I had my 2022, I noticed a rubber smell, but this time it came from under the hood, Nothing was hot to the touch, so figured tgat it may have been from the Silocone insulation on the High Voltage cables but it only happened a few times.

Once was on a hot day while stopped at an intersection and again in the dead of winter while car was stop on my driveway.

Never did find out where tge smell came from

I now haveca 2024 since April 2024 and so far no noticeable smell.