I have searched and read many topics, but none seem to relate to the issue I am experiencing (maybe they do but I have overlooked it or understood wrong).

I am experiencing a burnt rubber smell on certain occasions inside the car (and once while standing outside the car).

This only happens now and again, and has only started since it has gotten colder and I am using the heater (air heater, no seat heaters in my car).

I have narrowed it down to only happening when I have the heater on, and although it has happened mostly after a pushing a little under acceleration, it has happened also once or twice when driving at normal to slow speeds.

I drive the car daily to work and back and this has happened maybe 6 or 7 times in the last 5 weeks (since I started using the heater).

The smell is very similar to that of burning rubber when wheel spinning. When experiencing the smell, I have checked under the hood and also in the trunk, but the smell was not present, only inside the cabin (and once when I got out, but that could be because I opened the door to let the smell out).

As I say, it does not smell of electrical burning (I do have experience with that smell ), nor does it smell like engine burning.

Can you guys recall anyone having a similar experience so I may be able to track it down??

Many thanks as always!!

 

When I push my Crossfire I get the sulfur odor from the catalytic converters, maybe that is what you are smelling.

 

Bad catalytic convertor is a possibility but have you checked your belts....bad belt or belt tensioner would be a great thing to check?

 

lift off the engine cover and see if your valve covers are leaking oil onto your exhaust manifolds

 

Thanks guys, I will try and get some time this weekend to check it out.

The funny thing is, it doesn't happen with the A/C on, but only with the heater on.

 

Finally found 10 mins and removed the engine cover, it seems that it is indeed the valve cover that is leaking (passenger side), thanks NeedsWings!!

Here are photos of the leak, just so you can confirm that I am correct (or rather that NeedsWings is correct )










So, searching the forum, it seems like this is an easy enough fix.

However, my car is under guarantee, but it is a 200 mile round trip to take it for them to do. Woud you guys suggest the DIY route or the road trip??

Thank you all again!!

 

Kind of depends on whether you reseal only the small upper covers (Do IT YOURSELF) or both the smaller upper cover and the full lower covers. The small upper cover uses only RTV ultra black sealant, but the larger lower cover involves the purchase of a gasket and of course a little bit more work taken it off and putting it back on again. There are several threads here on the forum which detail the removal and resealing of the valve covers. Be aware that there are several different screw lengths and a very light torque on the screws: 10 N-m

 

IF you have the LPW AND you had that certified/checked at the 5 year mark, Chrysler will replace/fix the leaky valve cover issues you have (for free?). IF you don't trust them to do the work correctly OR have the LPW and did not have it certified/checked at the 5 year mark (which gives them a reason not to fix it if they want nothing to do with you), then I would suggest you DIY (either yourself and/or with someone who had done theirs and wants to help/meet with a beer or two after the job is complete). Good luck with the fix!

.

 

If you do the covers, I suggest you get two of the gaskets for the oil fill. Identical, one goes in the cap and another inside of the cover.

 

Yep,Yep. Get it all at Needswings.com. Rob has never failed with his great service over the years.

 

Thanks for the tips, I am sourcing the parts here as I am in Spain, although I would love to order from Rob, it bumps the cost up when including shipping and import taxes.

Now for a stupid question, do I need to change oil when doing this?

 

BTW, it seems that it is the top smaller cover that is leaking, so I plan on just doing that one for now, hence the question about oil.

 

You do not need to drain or change the oil to reseal the valve covers.

 

Thanks Zip439, I just read through the thread discussing the process in detail, I guess I should have done so before asking silly questions

 

In the end I opted for the Mercedes RTV which is a lot easier to get than Peramtex. Here, the Merc stuff, costs 28€ (about $30).

I did the reapir over the weekend, leaving it 48 hours to dry before completely tightening (it's pretty cold here at the moment), and reused the same bolts that were already on (Mercedes wouldn't sell me the bolts, only the cover with bolts for $300).

I did both sides in the end, hopefully everything looks ok, but only time will tell. I still got a bit of burning smell (first time I drove the car today), but that could be caused by leftovers from before (not had chance to clean the engine yet, only cleaned the part that I worked on).

Thanks again for all the help.

 

Let us know if that did the trick, as you said,"only time will tell". Hopefully, you'll get some good weather where you put some (s)miles on that thing.

 

on a cold motor, you an spray some brake cleaner onto the exhaust manifolds where the dripped oil is burning

 

This weekend I actually have a Roadster Club meeting, so a couple of hundred mountain miles should tell me if it has done the trick.

Now I need to clean the car properly before Saturday. Thanks for the tip Rob, I will hopefully get the engine cleaned in time as well, if not, then the oil will have gone by the time I get back

 

It seems that the repair stood up to the 600km that I did over the weekend, so far so good.

I must also say that the Crossfire stood up amazingly to the terrible conditions we experienced on the route, just to give you an idea of how bad the conditions were, here are a few photos I took along the way:

 

I know this is an old thread (and that I haven't posted in far too long), but I just wanted to update on this.

When I resealed, I did both sides using the Mercedes sealant I mentioned above. The driver side is still going strong, but the passenger side started to leak again after a couple of months (which makes me believe it was a case of me not doing it properly).

As I have been very tight on time over the last year due to work, I took it to a local mecanic I trust who used the gasket sealant he recommended (I did make sure to stress all the points about it being "sensor safe" etc.). That was about a year ago now and no problems since, although I have only done about 1k since then.