Like it says...i got out of my mini this morning and caught a wiff of burning rubber...it seemed to be coming from under the engine bonnet on the drivers side.

I called mini and they want me to have it brought in on a flatbed...which i may do.

I stopped by my local mechanic and he said he thought it smelled electrical and could hear a slight buzzing after the car stopped which he thought might be power steering assist unit.

I am leaning toward brake caliper or clutch....but i drove it home tonight (40 miles) gently and when i got home it "sort of had the same smell..but not strong at all...almost like normal engine smell.

I have 2 days off so i may drive it out to mini and have them look at it.

Has any of this happened to anyone else?

 

If MINI told you to have it towed...I'd give serious thought to driving it in. If that gives them an "out" it may cost you...if not money at least a hassle. In other words they may say, "Because you continued to drive it blah blah blah whereas if you'd have had it towed there would be no blah blah blah". Be careful and good luck. Keep us posted.

 

Good Point.

 

If you have an MCS that buzzing your mechanic heard after shutdown was most likely your water pump which is normal. There are no power steering pumps or fans on these cars. If it's under warranty just take it to the dealer.

 

I do have the MCS....and i thought there was a power assist module???

And yes i am going to call roadside service in the morning.....have them pick it up. But am i screwed if they find nothing wrong?

 

is there any oil leaking onto your parking area? If so U may have a leaking turbo aux oil line, and when it leaks it gets on other hot areas of the engine and can produce that horrible, plasticky smell that wont go away as long as the engine is warm.

 

Is it brand new? You get a lot of smells like that when they are... Like burning off the oily coatings or whatever are intact on the exhaust and whatnot.

 

No, not brand new....it's an 09 with 25,000 trouble free miles

I will check for leaks..but i do not believe i have any.

Thanks

I smelled this once before about 6 months ago, and it went away. And basicaly the same thing happened to start the first incident. I turned right from a stop, and was in second gear instead of 1st....so it took me a few seconds to sort that out. I can't imagine the clutch is that wimpy to have done any lasting damage???

 

eek. sounds like clutch, but thats strange still

 

It seems to have gone away maybe, i have not driven it much the past 2 days...but it smells more normal. It did this about 6 months ago too...i can only hope. *knocking on wood*

 

You probably did overheat the clutch and caused it to smell (they do stink horribly when overheated). Since the smell disappeared and you didn't mention problems with the clutch it'll probably be ok. You may have taken a few miles off it's life though.

 

Maybe a stupid question here....

Why would starting in 2nd harm the clutch? All it does it lug the engine...unless he was riding the clutch, whats the clutch have to do with it?

I do rolling stops and start in 2nd everyday...have done that in all my cars. If the MINI can't handle that...I've got a huge problem.

 

I was actually in 3rd..I came to a stop at the bottom of a hill that turns onto a fairly busy road with cars and trucks coming down a steep hill at 60-80 MPG.

I pulled out into this road and it took me a minute to realize that i was not picking up speed...so i was probably feathering the clutch to try and build RPMs to shift down into 2nd....and at the same time looking behind me to make sure some tractor trailer was not going to run me over.

This all took about 15 seconds....and it wasn't until i pulled into my next stop about a mile down the road when i realized the smell...at this time it was coming from the right rear tire area.

The next time i went out to the car it was fine, but driving a few miles i smelled it when I opened the hood to ask my car guy if he knew what it was.


Its been a few days and no problems...no smell..*knock wood*