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the old burning plastic/oil smell


Chris M

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I have only driven the car 5 times so far, but whenever I stop the car I get a smell coming from the passenger side vent of burning oil/burning plastic. I have seen loads of threads going back years but no real answers even though I assume the people who started the threads eventually got their issues sorted. The oil pressure is normal. The oil seems ok but I will change it tomorrow just incase, coolant if fine.

 

The car is a 03 DE, Automatic transmission so not a clutch issue, Today I drove a little longer than usual and noticed the smell in the cabin while driving, shutting all the vents and turning the AC off helped but I need to get down to the bottom of this.

 

From those unresolved threads I see people suggested the cats being clogged, oil from the dip stick leaking out, Gaskets leaking oil onto the exhaust system and burning.

 

So has anyone that had the strong smell around the passenger side footwell got it sorted and if so how?

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I had this in my old 350Z; 2015 model. I bought an M2 & have been living with it for approx 1.5 years, but haven't been happy with it & am considering a 370Z but am looking into the oil consumption issue. Which is why I'm here & seeing your thread it seems like there's still issues with oil consumption.

 

What year is your car; I just read an forum post suggesting that prior 2011 models have issues; suggesting that it may be fixed on latter models; but given the amount of posts I have seen, it suggests that the issue is not resolved. Looking forward to user's comments.

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No nothing under car and last owner had removed the undertray and put it in the boot, I just changed the oil there and changed out a cheapo amazon coil I had installed, I will also disconnect the head unit I installed and will report back if any of these solved the issue.

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I fixed it, the issue is 100% not there any more. Now it could be a few things so hard to pin point. The last owner could have over filled with oil, It could have been the coil I got from Amazon for 15 pounds was causing an issue or it could have been the cheap  Chinese head-unit. I might reinstalled the radio after a week of driving and see if the smell comes back just to confirm.

 

Edited by Chris M
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I had a similar thing with my last head unit. ( cheap chinese unit ) I had installed the reversing camera wrong. I put power to it twice, one up front in dash, and again at the rear by the camera. it was causing some of the power cables to melt! I removed the one in the dash and all was good. 

 

Mine is also an auto, which I had undersealed. That does give off a burning oilly smell in the car when bits of underseal drip or flick onto the hot sections. 

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