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Old 10-25-2009, 09:02 PM   #1
TougeAdict
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Default White Smoke and Plastic Burning Smell.. What is the problem?

Hello fellow Subaru oweners!

I'm have been searching this issue on the forums and most of the posts didn't really have a answer for me.

Here is one:
http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/show...+Plastic+Smell

2002 Subaru WRX
Mileage: 174,---

ANYWAYS! I drove to Skyline Drive in Virginia. For me to get there I did a about a hour drive. Regular driving no racing or high speeds on the way there. Once I got there pulled off one of the overlooks and turned off my car. I got back in started it up and notice a wierd plastic burning smell?? I thought it was a little weird even though I have had the FAMOUS gas smell for years. So I drove a couple miles more down Skyline Drive. The smell started getting worse and stuck around. So I pulled over looked in the engine bay and noticed the smell around the front part of the engine near the passenger side. No Smoke though (yet). Drove back home a 2 hour drive still with the smell not as bad as before.

Got home and the car sat in my driveway for about 2-3 hours. Started it back up to go to the store. As soon as I start up I noticed a puff of smoke come out of my hood scoop. Then I look at the back of the car and White Smoke is pouring out of my exhaust that has the smell of burning plastic. Drove up the street, shut it off for about 20 minutes and started it again. Did the same thing. Puff of smoke through hood scoop and pouring white smoke out of the exhaust. Now the smoke tones down as I drive. During all this I am still smelling the burning plastic inside the car.

The way I have been reading on the boards here, I have heard that it could be a head gasket or turbo seal? Someone please help. Thank You guys! You guys have been GREAT help before.

SIDE NOTE: The engine has no modifications.

Sorry for the very long explanation.
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Old 10-25-2009, 09:12 PM   #2
Uncle Scotty
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was it rubber or plastic??
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Old 10-25-2009, 09:15 PM   #3
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2014 Forester Limited

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kind of a mix of both at the beginning then move to more of a plastic smell...
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Old 10-25-2009, 09:26 PM   #4
Uncle Scotty
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belt....???
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Old 10-25-2009, 09:36 PM   #5
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2014 Forester Limited

Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by TougeAdict View Post
Hello fellow Subaru oweners!

I'm have been searching this issue on the forums and most of the posts didn't really have a answer for me.

Here is one:
http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/show...+Plastic+Smell

2002 Subaru WRX
Mileage: 174,---

ANYWAYS! I drove to Skyline Drive in Virginia. For me to get there I did a about a hour drive. Regular driving no racing or high speeds on the way there. Once I got there pulled off one of the overlooks and turned off my car. I got back in started it up and notice a wierd plastic burning smell?? I thought it was a little weird even though I have had the FAMOUS gas smell for years. So I drove a couple miles more down Skyline Drive. The smell started getting worse and stuck around. So I pulled over looked in the engine bay and noticed the smell around the front part of the engine near the passenger side. No Smoke though (yet). Drove back home a 2 hour drive still with the smell not as bad as before.

Got home and the car sat in my driveway for about 2-3 hours. Started it back up to go to the store. As soon as I start up I noticed a puff of smoke come out of my hood scoop. Then I look at the back of the car and White Smoke is pouring out of my exhaust that has the smell of burning plastic. Drove up the street, shut it off for about 20 minutes and started it again. Did the same thing. Puff of smoke through hood scoop and pouring white smoke out of the exhaust. Now the smoke tones down as I drive. During all this I am still smelling the burning plastic inside the car.

The way I have been reading on the boards here, I have heard that it could be a head gasket or turbo seal? Someone please help. Thank You guys! You guys have been GREAT help before.

SIDE NOTE: The engine has no modifications.

Sorry for the very long explanation.
I forgot to mention that the puff of smoke would come from the passenger side of the hood scoop
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Old 10-25-2009, 11:00 PM   #6
z&cobb
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TougeAdict View Post
I forgot to mention that the puff of smoke would come from the passenger side of the hood scoop
Overfill the transmission recently? The dipstick has vents in the guide/plug?

Or, a small tear in the inner axle boot on the passenger side?

Are you sure it is not the smell of engine oil?
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Old 10-25-2009, 11:18 PM   #7
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2014 Forester Limited

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There is no oil smell and the transmission was serviced a couple hundred miles ago. So I would figure if it had been overfilled it would have burned off by now? No? What about this "turbo seal" that I hear about?

Now I parked the car about a couple hours ago and looked under the hood after it was sitting for about 20 minutes. I could hear a quiet boiling or melting noise from the area of the turbo. Not the usual cool down pop noise when you turn off your car normally.
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Old 10-26-2009, 07:11 AM   #8
ricerocket123
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White smoke + smell of burned plastic sounds like engine oil to me. Probably engine oil go into exhaust? Can you check your engine oil to see if you are losing them?
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Old 10-26-2009, 07:14 AM   #9
C89ZX7R
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Check the A/C Drip Hose

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Old 10-26-2009, 07:59 AM   #10
garface
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It's weird that you have smoke coming from the exhaust AND under the hood. Can you open your hood and have someone turn on the car to see where it's coming from?
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Old 10-26-2009, 10:41 PM   #11
Rikshaman
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check your axle boot on the passenger side. you probably ripped it and its throwing axle grease onto your downpipe. hence smoke is coming out your hoodscoop. once the dp heats up, it burns the grease which smells like burning plastic. check it!
Rik
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Old 10-27-2009, 12:10 AM   #12
ralliboi
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this may sound crazy, but check the exhaust flange between the cats and the midpipe, i had the same problem and thats where it was coming from. It comes from having bad cats from whatever reasons(clogged or whatever) i had blown 3 motors inside of 2 months on the same exhaust and somewhere in there oil/gas/coolant got into the exhaust and ruined my cats. Hopefully not the case but i had the same thing with the smell and all
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Old 10-27-2009, 07:40 AM   #13
garface
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Rikshaman View Post
check your axle boot on the passenger side. you probably ripped it and its throwing axle grease onto your downpipe. hence smoke is coming out your hoodscoop. once the dp heats up, it burns the grease which smells like burning plastic. check it!
Rik

How would that shoot smoke OUT of his exhaust? I like the cat idea, but wouldn't he have a CEL?
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Old 10-27-2009, 02:13 PM   #14
z&cobb
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Except for the white smoke from the exhaust, I would have said to check the oil pressure relief valve area. On second thought the following might help someone else, so here it is.

Stand in front of the vehicle and use a bright LED flashlight to illuminate the front of the lower left hand side of the head. There is a spring loaded oil pressure relief valve down there. You will see the drain for the radiator down near that region to check if you are looking in the right place. Look for signs of engine oil under that area on the plastic.

Only a few drops of oil falling onto the hot pipe down there can give you a lot of smoke under the right (wrong!) combinations of conditions. You may not even notice a drop in the dipstick level for several thousand miles if you don't own one of the engines that routinely "burn" or consume massive quantities of engine oil.

Or it could be something much more expensive to fix. Remote diagnosis is a crapshoot here.
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