Hello, fired up my well maintained babied crossfire today, drove 1/4 mile to the gas station, and noticed some smoke (smelled like a burned out vaccum clean ) when I opened the hood, some light smoke was coming out of the passenger side of the engine, to the right of the fuse box, and left of the heat shield, could not see anything, opened the fuse box, nothing on fire/smoking/smell...so I dropped it off at the dealer for a quick look over, eletrical issues are a nightmare, no smoke came into the car itself....is there anything located in this are that might be a culprit? Obviously the fuse box is there, but the smoke was not coming from there..any thoughts? Thanks, care is 07 with 16.5k miles California car.

 

I replaced my cabin air filter today and saw a small accumulation of leaves and debris which I promptly cleaned. I couldn't help think about the time I was riding in a Nissan Pickup I had, it was old...and I began to smell smoke, and figured someone was burning leaves, so I drove on. Then the cabin began to fill with smoke and I saw a glow under the dash on the passenger side. I didn't have a fire extinguisher and was not too close to a fuel stop. So, I sped up to get to a station with either a water hose or a fire extinguisher and tried to beat the now flaming plastic dash underside and ended up with a molten glob of plastic on my inner forearm which I slung into the passenger seat, which burned a nice hole in the seat. What had happened, was, as you might by now guess, that the accumulation of debris, choked the fan and the fan got hot enough to ignite the leaves. Just my thoughts...peace....yea, I still have the scar, the Nissan drove for 4 more years.

 

Thanks for your help and insight, I have not heard back from the dealership, and I will mention this as a possible area to check out...in the event they cant find anything.Its my first real issue with the car, and as I've learned, where there is smoke, expect fire, not to be taken lightly! I took my 73 Alfa Romeo Berlina in a car wash on time and flipped the fan switch, igniting the whole wiring harness down the drivers door....now that was fun! Lets just hope this is not something as serious.

 

This sounds like my Alternator failure - only mine was catastrophic, i had to change the alternator, right away, in my driveway.
(NOT to say other suggestions are wrong...)

By taking the car to the dealer, you have set yourself up for a financial disaster. Go get your car and take it to a local shop known for Mercedes expertise.
(Unless you took it to a Mercedes dealership, in which case you are very fortunate to have a dealer that will work on it- tho I'd still avoid even a Mercedes dealership.)

 

It's not a small valve cover oil leak dripping down to the exhaust mani? It's happened before...

 

It will not be that simple Max, remember it was dropped of at a dealer. I'd guess at $500 to $1,000 in parts and labor and they still will not find the problem.
Naturally I say the same as you but I do not have to show the Service Manager that I have been ripping of the customers and adding to my bonus.

 

Thanks guy for the many and quick replies, I do appreciate it. What I smelled was definitely electrical, I dont think its the smell of oil hitting a hot surface from the valve cover....the smell is nothing like burning oil, the smell is electrical, the same smell you notice when ie you have a vacuum cleaner thats belt has slipped the electric motor and the electric motor spins at really high speed and starts to heat up, its a pretty distinct smell. Having owned many Alfa Romeos and worked on them for years (they are a handfull and would not want another) and known to be oil burners, its not burning oil. So I thought it could be the alternator. I dropped it off at the dealer as its still under the lifetime warranty, they will look at it, I have not authorized any work yet other than the inspection. Luckily about 10 miles from me there is a wonderful independent Mercedes shop that does excellent work. They are super friendly work only on mercedes and have no issue working on my car. Whatever the problem is I will most likely have them do the work, but in order to preserve the warranty and car history/documentation, I felt it wise at least at first to take it to the dealer so they are aware of the problem, who knows, maybe its something covered and simple..if not....off to the independent guy it goes, but I still think with 16.5k miles on it. the dealer should cover it, at least attempt to diagnose it, then I can decide who will perform the work, makes sense? I just want to keep my car happy and humming along..I still think its the nicest looking car I've ever owned, and love it.

 

OK. So very few can appreciate the difference in odor from different heat sources.

Hats off to you, sir!

 

Thanks I have a good sniffer and am obsessive....just lots of practice !

 

Let us all know how much the dealer 'HOSED' you (pun intended, you know hosed, fire hose...). I hope you told them you need to authorize any repair and if that is too late, that you want the parts given to you before you pay the bill. Just saying.



.

 

Thanks Graphite, yes, I made it crystal clear I authorized only the inspections and to call before touching anything, cost me 134..not too bad, thats dollars, they found nothing wrong..I just wanted to document the issue with the dealer to protect myself and the warranty, will go to an independent MB shop, but if the car catches fire tomorrow, I have some legal recourse with them, they have deeper pockets than a mom and pop shop. All in all I wasnt hosed too badly, considering

 

Some people can taste the difference between coolant and cat pee on a driveway. I can't.

 

And once again, I must clean the spittle off of my screen.

Dat der wus funey as hell,,, I don't care who you are.

 

Yea, but can they further discriminate cat pee from dog pee ?
Coolant and cat pee are easy, do it all the time.
I find cat pee somewhat more acidic than dog pee.
Wait !!! we ARE talking about beer, right ?

 

*...Ala...(SIGH)...bama...*



Get smart-use the neighbor's cat. It won't drink the pee. But it WILL drink the antifreeze.

Return cat ASAP.

 

maybe it was just something that had been on the exhaust that started to smoke when the exhaust got hot.

 

I have had this problem too, on my '06. I assumed (from the greasy lower valve cover) that it was an oil leak from the upper breather cover. Research on this forum led me to that conclusion. It doesn't happen constantly, seems like only after getting on it hard. Been like that for about a year, I'm planning on getting the seals replaced soon, and will report back if that's what the issue was. I also suspect there could be steam leaking from a small crack in the seam of the coolant overflow tank. Hopefully it's not your alternator dying.

 

Oil dripped on hot exhaust manifold and I got smoke.

 

guy at the shop said $70 for valve cover gaskets. I got them off eBay for $20

 

Sorry - my post was supposed to go in "What did you do to your Crossfire today" - no idea how it got here. Ron