Yesterday night I was driving home and I noticed a strange plastic/electronic (could be wrong) burning smell.

I have subs so I thought that could be the problem so I checked the trunk and couldn't find anything wrong but unplugged the remote just in case.

I drove a little further and the smell didn't go away. I pulled over again and checked the fuse box and turned my led lights off. Smell definitely went away after I rolled the windows down and sprayed Ozium in my car.

I get home and immediately notice the smell when I open the door and step outside the car.

I opened the hood and didn't really notice anything, nor did it smell.

It didn't do it all today except when I drove home again!!

It seems to be strongest between the driver's door and quarter panel area.

I'm baffled. Any thoughts?

 

Not really much to go on.

Something in the door panel switch's maybe.

If you think it's electrical and on that side of the vehicle then you could try pulling fuses for things (that you can drive without) one at a time and see if you get the smell.

Try
1) Power Windows fuse.
2) Power Locks fuse.
3) Power Mirrors fuse.

Hope this helps.

 

is your window on that side working properly? it might be burnin up?

 

I forgot to ask, you said it didn't smell on your way to work today, but it did on the way home. What was different about the drives? Were any lights on during the drive home, but not the earlier drive?

 

Well i tried driving with the lights off this morning (usually I just always leave them on) then later in the day I tried turning the lights on to see if it would do it but it didn't show up.

The only thing I could think of is my remote start. I started it outside of work and let it run for maybe 5 min max. I could kinda smell it but not in the cabin.

Then I went to walmart and came out and it didn't smell.

Then I went to my gfs house because she's sick and left some flowers in her kitchen
(I used the remote start to keep my car warm) and I was maybe in there for 8 min.
When I came back out, the smell was definitely more prominent and when I got home I could smell it when I got out of my car.

As far as I can tell the remote starter is working the way it should. (and being it's located under the hood and the smell wasn't present kinda steers me away)

but when I think about it I used it last night too and that's when it all started. not to mention it was 5 degrees outside.

 

ur hids?

 

non existent.

 

maybe it's just some engine oil gets on the exhaust

 

I sure hope not..

 

or the powersteering is leaking.
take a good look under the hood.

 

but why would it only do it at night?

 

I had the same thing, eventually it went away. I looked and looked but couldn't find anything and there was never any smoke. It only happened after the engine was hot, never on a short drive. I was quite alarmed and topped off the coolant, looked after every drive, but I eventually gave up.

Finally, I figured it was something plastic or some plant matter that got on the engine or exhaust, and would eventually burn entirely off. It did. Problem solved. But, you should definitely check into it.

 

my bad ur pic makes it look like it

 

If it's only at night then it has to do something with th elights. What on that side of the car lights when the headlights are on?

 

My lights are usually always on. I have a burned out side marker but it's been that way since I bought the car

 

I had the same problem as I would always smell something plastic/electrical burning, turns out my AC compressor was slightly rattling and a week before it seized up I would smell the burning smell constantly. replaced it and the smell is gone.

 

Do you go out for Mexican at night?

Couldn't resist. Last time I thought something smelled in my car, my wife leaned over took a sniff and said it was me.

 

Good call. I went for Carnitas last night. That's why I drove the wifes car.

 

this sounds dumb but check ur exhaust for a plastic bag. same thing happened to my friends car and we looked under to find a melting bag.

 

Ditto, that was what I was going to suggest... plastic on your exhaust

 

the smell is gone now ha..

maybe it burned off.. whatever it was

 

Ok, I have a nissan a Maxima 2000 with 42,883 miles. I was sitting in the car with my dad -The engine was off; I was flipping things on and off, I was showing him the car - indoors -kind of dark, (enough for the auto headlights to be on) and I notice a burning smell, so I turn the switch an removed the key from the ignition. I checked the trunk, -as I thought maybe the amplifier was hot but nothing. - I open the hood but nothing. The smell was only inside. we had the radio on all the time, so I took the radio off the car (stuck bose) but I don't think it smells. there has to be something that is burning, maybe a relay? I will seat in the car again but with the dash apart and do one thing at the time, maybe I can detect where the smell is coming from.

Any one had something similar happening to them?

 

I just ran some more tests, with the stereo unplugged I sat in the car and noticed that even though the engine temperature was cold the two fans where running -not just one, but the two, so my best guess is that the climate control is broken and it sends a signal to the fans. Usually when the one fan runs is the temperature, but when the two run is the air conditioning. so if there is something wrong with the climate control then the smell is coming from there? any ideas? I will disassemble and look for any burning smells.

 

This is just a shot in the dark, so to speak, but I noticed you mentioned something about LED lights being turned off and the plastic burning smell was gone in the OP. I had a similar incident with some thermal runaway happening to some LED bulbs that I had.

 

I have bad news, the burning part is the ECM, I opened the car computer and the chip sn104690 is burned. this is going to cost me around 600 dollars in parts.