When I drive the car really hard, lots of redlining and WOT, I notice a burning smell all through the cabin. It doesn't matter if the windows are open or closed, so it's obviously coming through the vents. Today it happened and I had the windows down and no AC for fan blowing air. When I came to a stoplight it smelled like burning rubber, but definitely not gas or oil.

I don't track my car but I do get into occasions when I'm basically pushing the car to it's limits and this burning smell always comes up.

Does anyone who drive like a maniac or track their car get this same smell? And if you do, what is it? I have never had this experience with any other car I've owned. I don't want to damage my engine but the smell is weird.

Any ideas?

 

Manual trans? If so, could be the clutch..

 

It's definitely not the clutch. After doing some google searches it seems most people seem to think it's just carbon burning off. And the smell or "problem" so to speak is not limited to Mini's either, there are numerous threads across all makes and models that have this same issue.

 

It happened on all four gen 1 MINIs I've owned. Nothing to worry about.

 

It could be carbon or your valve cover is clog pcv system '

 

I spoke to my independant Mini mechanic about this the other day while at the shop and he said it couldn't be carbon build up because that's internal and it would go out of the exhaust. He said the mosts likely cause is oil leaking on the downpipe, and when I'm going WOT it's burning that off and the smell is sulfur like and is coming in through the vents.

He said unless you look to see if there's oil on it you'd never know because the downpipe is so hot that if it were leaking the oil would never hit the ground but just cake up on the pipe until it gets so hot it would start to burn and smoke, hence the smell.

 

^^ Yep, that sounds about right. Most of the time oil leaks/coolant leaks start off as a seep and then acquire into a drip and drip onto components of the vehicle before showing any evidence on the ground. When you drive and things get hot, the liquids get burnt off and depending on what is leaking you can smell it. If anyone needs help with diagnosing where an oil leak may be coming from be sure to check this article here for assistance: http://www.pelicanparts.com/techarti..._Diagnosis.htm.

 

He also told me that every Mini that has come through his shop has some kind of leak issue, some sooner than others. But he said it's only a matter of time before it will leak oil or coolant "somewhere", and he only works on Mini's and Volvo's exclusively. Great article from Pelican tho.

 

Better check your turbo oil feed line. my sons was doing the same thing so I had a quick look at it. Just let the car idle and flex the oil feed line on top of your turbo up slightly and see what happens, my guess is oil will come pooring out. Just ordered a new steel braided line from Detroit Tuned, the stock one is **** whoever designed this should be tarred and feathered. Your going to put a rubber o ring in an oil feed fitting that is bolted to the top of the turbo, are you shitting me? heat maybe an issue? ya think?

 

Have you opened the bonnet to look in there? The oil leak on top of the turbo will be very evident. If so get one of our super kits and install it all and it will solve a lot of leaks in the front of the motor. and i assume that this car is a gen 2 turbo car correct? If it is different model it could be a different problem.