Really bad smoke from Phev engine when on charge

[IdealMarion]

Has anyone come across this problem? Our 5 month old Phev has done this several times when put into charge mode the exhaust smokes like a bonfire, the first time it did it it was like a tyre burning with dark brown smoke billowing out (I thought we were on fire it was so bad).

The dealer has had it in but couldn't make it smoke! We videoed it and showed them they said it was normal! I don't think it can be as it definitely would not pass an emissions test smoking like that - any advice please.

 

[NightPHEVer]

Jeez - what! Doesn't sound at all normal to me. Dark brown smoke? I've never seen dark brown smoke come out of anything apart from when my house chimney caught fire once. Ooh er. I think I'd contact Mitsubishi UK about this.

 

[user 816]

Burning rubber smell from a PHEV in charge mode is pretty normal but not seen any significant smoke before.

I can't remember if we ever worked out for sure what it is, perhaps a build up of stuff on the normally not so hot exhaust being burned off when the exhaust is really hot during charging, or the rubber mounts getting hot. I also had a theory it was electrical parts or cables running hot.
Doesn't seem to be a problem though, many reported the same.

It does gradually reduce, but on mine (80,000 miles 3 years) I still get a bit of that hot burning rubber smell sometimes in charge still.

 

[jaapv]

Has anyone come across this problem? Our 5 month old Phev has done this several times when put into charge mode the exhaust smokes like a bonfire, the first time it did it it was like a tyre burning with dark brown smoke billowing out (I thought we were on fire it was so bad).

The dealer has had it in but couldn't make it smoke! We videoed it and showed them they said it was normal! I don't think it can be as it definitely would not pass an emissions test smoking like that - any advice please.

I don't quite follow "normal"; I have never seen this on mine, nor on any other PHEVs I've seen on the road - and they are plentiful over here.
It may not be harmful, maybe an overdose of corrosion-preventing goo was applied to the exhaust, but still a bit disconcerting.

 

[NightPHEVer]

Doesn't seem to be a problem though, many reported the same.

I don't think brown smoke is normally reported is it? The original question refers to the smoke coming out of the exhaust, which seems rather odd to me.

 

[maby]

I've never seen evidence of any noticeable smoke associated with running in Charge mode. We still get a noticeable burning smell in Charge - even after more than 40,000 miles - mostly petrol miles.

 

[anko]

Agreed. Rubber smell: yes. Smoke: no.

 

[user 816]

Agreed. Rubber smell: yes. Smoke: no.

Actually I quite like it..... oops did I say that out loud?

 

[FINPHEV]

It was about two and a half years ago when I complained about the rubber smell which I thought was a burning clutch or something. The local dealer found a service call and my car had additional mudflap installed on the bottom of the car on the passenger side to decrease the amount of dirt goin on the pipe. I saw the instructions and it had picture by picture guide how to clean the pipe before the installation. I have asked the service call id but did not get it from the dealer. I even sent to some Dutch member of this forum the name and email address of the dealer but information was not shared by them.