Hey Guys
OK, so today I was driving (08 SL) and after about half an hour, I could smell a very strong burning odor in the car. It was as if there was something on fire in the car itself. The odor was not plastic or oil burning, but seemed more like a blanket kept on a heat source. I had pulled into the parking lot of my destination, so didn't think much of it. An hour later, I got back in my car and was driving home, and after about 5-10 minutes, the smell came back again. The heater was on, so I turned it off and the smell dissipated. The temp outside was about 55 and the climate control was on 63. Any ideas on what the issue might be? I am assuming it was the heater, but any other ideas on what this could be? Thanks in advance.

 

Take it to the Dealer and tell them to sort it out....

 

you have a plastic bag stuck to your exhaust pipes

 

id say you have a brand new car that the heat hasnt been used on before. i some what smelled something my self and i have a 08 se that ive had for about 4 months now and just turned the heat on this week and smelled something. kinda resembled the smell you have in your house from turning the heat on for the first time.

id wait and see if it sticks around. i really wouldnt worry about it unless you saw smoke. it probably just needs to 'break in' some.

 

i get that same smell in mine when i used the heat for the first time in 6 months it goes away after a while. i get the same thing from the gas fireplace in my house. when you fire it up around winter time it stinks for a few minutes as you burn out all the dust and cobwebs but it will be fine. take it to the dealer if it doesn't go away.

 

I was just in the dealership yesterday... and a guy had the same problem... and it was a plastic bag stuck underneath.

 

Thanks for the replies guys. I'll take a look and see if there is something stuck underneath the car. I did pop the hood when I first came across the smell as I suspected something probably got in the engine bay or something, but the thought of something underneath the car did not cross my mind. I'll update once I get a chance to check it out. Thanks again

 

It's the seat !

 

Cant be worse than the horrible smell I got for 2 weeks after antirust oil spray everywhere under the car.

 

Out of curiosity, had your car been sitting for a while prior to this happening. The reason I ask is because I just got my M35x about a month ago and the first few times the heat kicked on I had a similar smell in the car. Exactly what you're describing, like some kind of fabric on fire.

My smell has gone away after about 2 or 3 weeks.

 

It's just new car smells

 

Yep, happen to me in a old car. A very small part of a plastic bag melted and stuck to one side of the pipe. I had to crawl under with a flash light to find it. I forgot what I used to remove it. Think I let the service dept. remove it.

 

I smelled the same thing and smoke was coming from the bottom of my seat and pulled car into garge seen sparks

 

there is a recall for that.... I would take your car in....

anyways I had smoke come from my dash board when I went to the track and removed my speakerbox and forgot to cap off the power and ground wires in the trunk. They touched the remote wire and fried a wire under my dashboard. talk about close call. I turned off the car right away and found the wire fried. Also had a burning smell from my dome lights because I used those rubber color changing covers and they melted. don't use them. I bought leds instead. Don't know if any of that helped but allways good to learn from other peoples mistakes.

 

That recall was for the drivers seat wire harness but I would think that would not be a issue in a '08 maxima.
po8pimp be careful at the track. Insurance companies send workers out there to snap pictures of car doing the 1/4 mile. If you get caught your insurance is gone. I know this happened to a couple of people.

 

how is that legal??

 

quick solution to that problem would be take the plates off at the track. easy to do and nothing illegal about it.

 

Try to see if it does it when you put the fan on internal recycle

 

Just an update. After that day, the smell has not come back. Not sure what it was. Would have preferred to know what it was , but hey, I am not complaining

 

so this is exactly what im dealing with it been going on for three years now . i manly smell it in the winter . iv had the dealer look at it five times with appositely no help what so ever . It more of a electrical smell then exhaust and it seems to come from the heater . so i read thew the responses it not a bag on the exhaust pipe ( really ) .It could be the seat but it really seems to come threw the heating vent . i had a 98 dodge that had a fan controller that was inside the heating duct that Burt up and it smell a lot like that . after talking to my three of my local deals i found out they don't like to fix stuff because (quote Nissan corp dose not reimburse them fully and no mark up on parts ) yeah i didn't like that awnser either but at least it wasnt another line of crap on why they cant smell this smell that anyone ho drives in my car can smell . so back on topic does anyone really know whats up this this problem .

 

If I was you i'd go get the car checked out by a professional mechanic because it could be anything.The last thing you want is the burning smell to turn into fire and burn your car down to shreads