Burning rubber smell from under the hood???

[carntz]

The last few times I have driven the T Bird I can smell burning rubber inside the car. and under the hood. (No I am not doing burn outs LOL) I should note that this has occurred when the outdoor temperature is in the 30's or lower. The temp gauge sometimes doesn't even reach normal operating temperature. The heater this last time was operating and thought that I should mention that, but I am not sure that this has happened when the heater is not in use. No sign of smoke from under the hood when car is parked immediately after the drive. The roads have been bare and dry. Bird has 41500 miles. The only work under the hood that has been done in the last 5000 miles is coils (8) and cold air intake. Any guesses will be greatly appreciated

[Tbear]

Jon, one of the local club members reported the same issue last week in his 02. It has about 40000 miles like yours. He thought it smelled like burning plastic. He found it to be a tiny oil drip on the exhaust manifold. Likely a valve cover gasket.

[carntz]

Jon, one of the local club members reported the same issue last week in his 02. It has about 40000 miles like yours. He thought it smelled like burning plastic. He found it to be a tiny oil drip on the exhaust manifold. Likely a valve cover gasket.

Thx Dave, Not seeing an evidence of oil under the car, but I am thinking that if the valve cover gasket is leaking then there could be oil in the coil wells / cavities?

[Tbear]

He didn't have anything under the car or see any smoke either. Easy enough to check.

[carntz]

He didn't have anything under the car or see any smoke either. Easy enough to check.

Ok Here is my dumb question. where exactly do I look??

[carnut]

I had the same thing many years ago. It was the valve cover gasket leaking, dropping a very small amount of oil on the exhaust header. I did a little write-up when I did mine and it hopefully will help you.

valve cover.pdf

Cheers,
Warren

[AZTB]

I had the same thing many years ago. It was the valve cover gasket leaking, dropping a very small amount of oil on the exhaust header. I did a little write-up when I did mine and it hopefully will help you. valve cover.pdf Cheers, Warren

Very nicely done, Warren - thank you for reminding us!

[HKS]

I had the same thing many years ago. It was the valve cover gasket leaking, dropping a very small amount of oil on the exhaust header. I did a little write-up when I did mine and it hopefully will help you.

valve cover.pdf

Cheers,
Warren

Warren,
Thank you for your fantastic detailed instructions on replacing 2002 Tbird valve cover seals + other important related info.
This PDF should be downloaded, printed, and put with other Tbird documentation.
HKS

[Howlandd]

Warren & Jon - I just noticed kind of like an exhaust smell the other day. Did your oil drip smell anything like that?

[carnut]

Mine had the smell of being right beside a freshly hot tarred roof, and in fact that is what the Mrs Carnut and I first thought. No oil drips on the ground or anything, just the occasional smell.

The thing I found funny about it all was that an old Ford truck (1972 F100 with a 360) I had way back as a kid had major gasket and seal leaks everywhere on the engine and was absolutely coated in engine oil leaks, you couldn't even see the engine for the black oily mess... and it never smelled as strong as that stupid little drip onto the header in the TBird.

[AZTB]

Mine had the smell of being right beside a freshly hot tarred roof, and in fact that is what the Mrs Carnut and I first thought. No oil drips on the ground or anything, just the occasional smell.

The thing I found funny about it all was that an old Ford truck (1972 F100 with a 360) I had way back as a kid had major gasket and seal leaks everywhere on the engine and was absolutely coated in engine oil leaks, you couldn't even see the engine for the black oily mess... and it never smelled as strong as that stupid little drip onto the header in the TBird.

I had a '51 6-cyl Ford PU that I bought from an old farmer here in Glendale (when I turned 16). It also had a leak in valve cover gasket and the engine was covered in oil, but you couldn't smell it because of all the other "smells" left in-and-by the truck. And yes, I did use "PU"...