76,000 miles, bought used a few months ago. No engine problems whatsoever thus far, no check-engine light.

This morning I drove the car home from my girlfriend's house. About 12-15 minutes of rush hour driving. At the very end of the drive, I had the heat on (AC off) and suddenly noticed a really bad, burnt smell coming out of the vents (I'd just switched from floor vent to dash vent). Right then I became aware that the engine was making a whirring noise that went up and down according to engine RPMs. I only had 2 minutes of the drive left and noticed no loss of power or anything. Parked and lifted the hood...same weird burnt smell coming out of the engine but no smoke or anything. Sound seems to be coming from passenger side of the engine, near the belts/pulleys, but it's hard to tell. Noticed no loss of power steering either.

ANY IDEAS? Thanks in advance.

 

Your alternator might be bad. Go to autozone and have hte batt and alternator tested for free.

 

I would guess it's your belt. Was it hot outside? Be advised that a deteriorated or a slipping belt will not necessarily cause loss of power steering etc. as long as it still holds.

In any case, turn on/off AC a few more times and see what happens...have someone rev the car for you while you look at the belt. Perhaps it isn't even the belt. It's hard to diagnose such problem because although you were descriptive, there may be numerious complications.

 

...would a bad alternator cause such smell? I don't know...

Also, if it was the alternator, it would have nothing to do with his RPM jumping up and down, although the battery would die quite fast.

 

Well some alternators make noise as hte rpms move when they are bad.
Although it could be the belts, might as well check everything out.

 

Maybe you hit a squirrel or something.

 

my advice is to remove the drive belt start the car for a few seconds and if there is no noise it might be the tensioner bearing the same thing happened to me 4 months ago and it was the tensioner bearing was bad check the belt to see abnormal wear if you replace it replace the belt too also should smell like burnt rubber

 

Broaner22 came over and checked it out. It's definitely a burning rubber smell, which leads me to believe it's the belt. No problems with the battery or electrical accessories, power steering works fine, all the pulleys appear to be turning but it was dark and we were only using flashlight.

Maximus_pr, that's good advice! I'm going to try that tomorrow morning, but I'm going over to Broaner's tomorrow to put on my STS and Y-pipe, so we'll have a look from underneath and also try taking off the belt and looking at the tensioner bearing. I hope the dealership doesn't charge more than $100 for a new belt and tensioner bearing. I have no idea how much they cost.

It's a 10-minute drive to his house and there's no way I can jack my car up in my gravel driveway, so I hope the short drive doesn't fxck up something...and I hope I even make it there, LOL.

BTW, it's 50 degrees out so puting the climate control on AUTO didn't appear to engage the A/C compressor. Is that right? If the temp is below 65 the A/C won't even go on?

 

if your bearing is bad you must consider the belt drives the a/c and the alternator and they may not work at all so don't turn the a/c on and remember if the alternator is not running ok or no running all your electrical acc will be running directly from battery and it will drain in no time

 

Ah, good points...thanks! Maybe my local auto parts store will give me a free alternator check.

 

hah ha haha haha

 

you might want to check to see if your car was under the nissan alternator recall. The diodes were known to catch fire.

 

OK here's a big update. I have not fixed the problem yet, but the car is very driveable. In fact, I've driven it several hundred miles, including spirited highway driving, with no problems (had to get to a Nissan meet, gotta do what you gotta do!). No apparent loss of horsepower. Just the whirring noise whose pitch rises and falls with RPMs (clearly something with a belt or pulley, or perhaps the alternator) and the burning rubber smell. Belt looks fine but I haven't taken it off to check.

I spent $59 on a new idler pulley (tensioner) assembly because they would only sell the whole unit. Haven't put it in yet because I can't get the damn bolt off! I'm talking about the bolt in the center of the idler pulley (14mm). Just succeeded in stripping it a little bit. Is it normal for it to be so tight? Doesn't seem like it would rust much.

Sidenote: last Friday I had just cleaned my leather and interior and was taking my girlfriend out to a nice dinner in the Max. On the way to the restaurant, car fxcking DIED. Great timing, huh? ABS light came on, then Air Bag started flashing, then Oil, then I noticed the interior lights dimming and thought "oh ****". Two minutes later the car was completely dead. Obviously the alternator stopped working. I thought, well at least I know what the problem is now. WRONG. It had been raining a lot and I'd loosened the tensior bolt a lot previously when trying to remove the idler pulley (forget to retighten it) so I think what happened last Friday was the belt was loose and started slipping, probably triggered by the wet roads. We later tightened the tensioner up again, jump-started the car, and it runs fine again, same as before. So the alternator appears to be working, although a friend raised the possibility that I have a seized bearing in the alternator itself. Would that cause a burning rubber smell, though? Again, the belt appears to be fine, no wear, spins fine. Haven't taken it off, but I'm not sure taking it off would help because the sound and smell would almost definitely stop if I removed the belt.

ANY IDEAS? I'd really like to avoid going to the dealership, but I guess I'm going to have to have them or Meineke or someone remove the bolt (maybe torch it off) on the idler pulley because I don't want to strip it any more. (Yes, we used tons of PB Blaster on the bolt.)

 

Masaccio has a '99 .. the recall was for '97 and '98 models manufactured b/w 2/97 to 2/98

 

Maybe sometimes the alternator is not spinning and the belt is running over a non moving pully causing the burning rubber smell.

 

yeah id have to agre with kevlo, i had that whirring sound, my altnerator was bad, but i sprayed a bit of belt dressing and the noise level went down, which mightve meant the belt was also a bit loose, id have a look at the belts and get the altnerator tested at strauss , autozone, or strauss, my diode was bad causing whining noises according to RPM range

 

you may need a breaker bar (2 feet long) and a little patience to change the tensioner and of course use quality tools if you use those cheap ratchet and sockets they might make things worse

 

your bolt is probably reverse threaded. Have you checked this out?

 

maybe your tensioner pulley is the one w/ the problem. i know from experience on my mom's jeep, i had to replace the pulley and bearing for her cause it got wet and dirty after a ramp in the mud.
the burning smell is prob the belt wearing over the pulley, and the pulley is resisting, next time your able to remove the belt, try turning each pulley w/ your hand, the one that's the hardest to turn might be causing your problem.

 

I thought of that, but one look at the new unit's nut and it appeared to be normally threaded. But I'll give it another go in both directions with a breaker bar...if I can get one in there—it's pretty tight. And really the main problem was getting the wrench (box-end wrench, not a ratchet) to stay on the nut. Kept slipping off and stripping the nut.

Thanks for the advise, all. I'll go and see if Checker will give me a free alternator check, also. If the diode or something inside is messed up, I assume they will be able to tell.

 

You should be able to get that bolt off. I may be stating the obvious because I dont a whole lot. But one time I was trying to take a bolt off and it kept slipping and later I found out I was using a "6 Point" Socket versus a "12 Point". The 12 griped the metric bolt a whole lot better. I dono...Hope this helps...

 

Two things: 1. Kinger402, your kinda mixed up bud. A 12 point socket has much less grip than 6 point for that very reason. 12 points are should be used for lightly torqued bolts and are usually small. Less than 14mm. 2. slag, the bolt is most likely NOT reverse threaded. Two reasons I think so. First is that mine wasn't. Second is that there is absolutely no reason to reverse thread a nut and bolt that is secured fastly on the other side.

For those that are mentioning a breaker bar, that is a good idea but maybe you could explain it more in depth. How would one go about getting a breaker bar over a wrench. There is no possible way that your gonna get a socket wrench in there no matter how many universals you use.

Tom, is the problem still existent? I didn't notice it on Saturday. Maybe the idle tensioner was just loose the whole time. IDK. Whatever. The belts look to be in decent shape for the time being. You need new ones if you decide on an UDP anyway. You thinking about one?

 

Yeah. Maybe it was a 6 Point. LOL. See I told you i didnt know what i was talking about LOL

 

Yeah, think I'm gonna return the idler pulley assembly to Zimbrick Nissan if they'll let me. It'd be a shame to waste $60 on that. I'm thinking a new drive belt might be in order, because I'm almost positive that that had to have been what was burning. I don't suppose there's an easy way to get the belt off without removing the idler pulley...? But yeah, car seems fine now. I just don't want the belt to go while I'm on a long roadtrip out east this summer.... that would be awful.

Nope, not planning on UDP. One of the few basic mods I'm not going to do. Dave B. reported identical quarter mile times with and without it and said the engine felt much smoother with the stock pulley. I'll probably do some more research on it but I'm thinking it's not worth it at all.

 

The idler pulley doesn't need to be removed just loosened. I would agree with Dave about the UDP. Its pretty much one of those mods that people argue forever about. I regret spending so much money on a mod that might do nothing. Oh well. Maybe it will help with rev matching quicker once the swap is complete. Oh but its definitely worth $200 to reduce curb weight by three pounds. Maybe it'll be like a less hardcore lightened flywheel. Its amazing how much quicker your car tachs up in nuetral. The same blip in mine that produces a 2K raise in RPM makes a 2.5 to 3K jump in yours. I know that due to the difference in tranny but its really exciting.

 

Your alternator will whine and still work. Mine did that before it finally went dead. Sound like one of the bearings in the alternator.

 

Well, the problem "resolved itself" last week: whatever was slowing the belt down stopped doing it and everything seems to work fine. Everything, that is, except my air conditioner. Today was the first really hot day that I drove the car and the clutch in the A/C pulley isn't even engaging. I think it's been like this since I bought the car in Feb (or maybe not--never got around to checking the A/C until now). I'm thinking I'll take the unused new idler unit back, get a new drivebelt (because the belt is the only possible source of the burning rubber smell, I figure), and try to figure out what's wrong with the A/C. Any ideas? I get only hot air when I put the climate control on Auto.

 

Yeah, I wouldn't be surprised if the alternators dying, and the bearing noise will come back sometime soon. I'll start looking for a used one somewhere...

 

Another update: problem came back!

It was completely gone for about a month but then last Saturday, which was a very very rainy day here, I was driving and experienced the following recurrence:

Drove around in torrential rain with no problems for about 30 minutes. Then I entered a parking lot which was very flooded (but I didn't realize how deep the water was at all). I drove through water at leat 4 inches deep and probably some got on the drive belt. Driving around trying to find a parking spot, the car was displaying all the classic symptoms of the alternator not working: battery light on, ABS light on, brake light on, one by one, so I killed the wipers and everything and dove into a handicapped spot because I didn't want the car to die in the middle of the lot in the rain.

Anyway, as I got out of the car, I noticed the burning rubber smell again! It has to be the drive belt. After doing a little research tonight, I've decided that the problem is the drive belt is getting off track and burning where it contacts somethign it shouldn't be contacting. It could also be a (as maximus_pr pointed out long ago) a bad bearing in the idler pulley itself, or a combination of the two. But it makes more sense that it would be the belt, and here's why:

Because: I drove for several hundred miles back in May when the belt first started doing this and the problem didn't go away. Then suddenly it went away for about a month. I'm guessing this is because the edge of the belt wore down because of the continuous contact and then it wasn't contacting anything anymore. The recent wet (very wet) driving I did made the belt slip and move over a bit and now it's contacting something again, and I'm getting the burning belt smell again.

Continuing my hypothesis, I think the alternator is fine. The "dead alternator" symptoms only arise when I'm driving in the rain. Unless it's possible that lots of water is getting into the alternator itself, I think that this indicates clearly that it's the belt that's slipping and the alternator pulley is losing traction. Side note: the plastic splash guard on the underbody seems to be a little out of position and it's just barely not protecting the drive belt. It seems like it ought to, so maybe correcting that would solve things. However, even if it's pushed over, it doesn't look like it extends far enough to fully protect the drive belt. Further, the drive belt ought to be able to handle a little (or a lot) of water because it's hot and it's spinning so water wouldn't stay on it for more than a few seconds. (This is all my speculation after thinking things through.) So the fact that water is the trigger for the loss of alternator problems suggests to me that there is an underlying problem (bad idler pulley is my guess).

Does anyone have thoughts? Post them quick because I think I'm going to just go to Nissan tomorrow and have them fix it. I already bought a new idler pulley assembly but was unable to get the center bolt off because it was so damn tight. Is it worth trying again on my own?

Even if it is, I'm pretty fed up with this problem and am inclined to just take it to the dealer and have them fix it once and for all. I know two of the mechanics there and I don't think they'll try to screw me, esp given how much I know about this problem already. Also, I have extremely low pressure in my A/C system and am going to take it to them anyway to check for leaks with the fancy machine they have and refill the lines. I bought the idler for $59, a new drive belt runs $15 I think, and then the labor. Hopefully it won't be too bad. Again, any thoughts? And sorry for being so prolix.

 

my car don't have that splash guard it fell off the car and after 3 months no problem so far i think the best thing is to have you car check at dealer and depending of what they tell you decide whether or not they fix it or not

btw i'm looking for the splash guard(the one that covers the alt,drive belt,oil filter etc...)

 

Good call. I'll take it in tomorrow, tell them to fix the A/C (so they'll be happy they're getting some of my $$) and then ask them to inspect the belt and pulley and call me with their diagnosis. If it sounds like it's just the idler, I'll probably try to fix it myself unless they give me a cheap estimate.

 

I just want to thank you for your thread I'm staring to get that smell now i know that to go for it... and I recomend you to try to loose that bolt again your self...some people use a little bit of gasoline and burn oil to help them lubricate tight bolts or nuts.

 

good luck!!!

 

I did use PB Blaster on the bolt when I tried. One possible factor that I discovered tonight: I think you're supposed to loosen the center nut FIRST, and then loosen the top tension-adjusting bolt. When I did it before I did it the other way around. But I would have been able to get it anyway if I'd had a pipe that would fit around the crescent wrench. I don't have a "breaker bar" that will fit so I don't have nearly enough leverage.

 

That sucks that it came back man. Good luck with it. Your supposed to realease the tension first although it wouldn't matter either way. I'm almost positive. I did it the way we did the first time and no problems minus the snapped tensioning rod because my dumb@ss cranked away on it backward. I've been running with no splash guard for nearly a year with no problems. I've gone through some deep ****. But dude, now that your a member or the lowered club you gotta be careful. I never go in standing puddles if I can help it. It is very hard fore me to visualize the belt slipping only a little bit. That belt has six ribs that hold it in place and therefore it would have to jumb a rib for the situation your hypothysising(sp?) to happen. BTW, good luck with the AC. Let me know how it goes.

 

1. IT WAS THE ALTERNATOR ALL ALONG

2. I'M REALLY P!SSED AT THE DEALER

3. THIS IS COSTING ME LOTS OF MONEY THAT I WAS SAVING FOR RIMS



More later...should get the car back tonight.

 

Damn, GIVE THEM HELL! Also mention that your friends at maxima.org correctly diagnosised the problem over the internet better than they did by actually having the car in their hands!

 

AND HOW DID I MISS THIS THREAD???

http://forums.maxima.org/showthread.php?p=3079003

 

Yes, thanks especially to kevlo and jeff92se for correctly diagnosing the problem on this thread. I should have put a voltimeter to the alternator way back in May but didn't get around to it because I suspected other things. NONETHELESS, Nissan misdiagnosed the problem and is trying to charge me for parts and labor (new idler pulely and belts) which did nothing to solve my problem. Also, the new alternator costs $375 installed. I will update y'all after I hear back from them today. At least I know I will have my problem fixed and the car won't die on me (although it sounds like alternators go pretty frequently. If the new one goes at some point down the road, I will consider an aftermarket replacement).