Burning smell from Fabia engine compartment

[setsquare]

We have a 2005 Fabia 1.2HTP, was serviced by a dealer couple of weeks ago (nothing major, though did have new rear brakes) & this has now developed a burning smell from the engine compartment. You can smell it slightly inside the car, but more so outside, particularly through the front grille & edge of the bonnet. I've had a look around the engine compartment & nothing seems amiss, the car runs fine & everything works. The smell is a like burning rubber/plastic, its a little accrid. Now I did think it might just be some "pre-ice" spray that we've used to stop the windscreen icing up overnight, but now I'm not so sure. The plastic hose to the air filter seems to smell of it the strongest, it has a coating of like dust on it which may be what the smell is. Any ideas?

[rum4mo]

Smelly a bit "accrid" is not good - although modern fully synthetic engine oils do not smell too nice either (I'm saying that in case there was some oil spilt during the service and its reached the exhaust). If its a coil dying - then it would smell a bit accrid - and the engine will start to run on two cylinders. Other than that accrid tends to be other electrical - so not good.

[expostmanpat]

Check under the battery cover, there have been issues with the fuses located on top of the battery melting, also check around the coil packs for any signs of melting burning.

[rum4mo]

Check under the battery cover, there have been issues with the fuses located on top of the battery melting, also check around the coil packs for any signs of melting burning.

Yes, if I had been smarter I would have included that as well, just one other thing though, I was under the bonnet of my wife's Polo 9N Polo this afternoon topping up the washer bottle and I caught a sniff of hot coolant that does also smell a bit accrid.

[expostmanpat]

Yes, if I had been smarter I would have included that as well, just one other thing though, I was under the bonnet of my wife's Polo 9N Polo this afternoon topping up the washer bottle and I caught a sniff of hot coolant that does also smell a bit accrid.

Hmmm a slight coolant leak on to a hot hose would probably leave the white deposit he talks of and give a smell that might be construed as burning? Worth a look.

[setsquare]

Check under the battery cover, there have been issues with the fuses located on top of the battery melting, also check around the coil packs for any signs of melting burning.

Good call, I'll have a look later. The smell is definately stronger in the area of the battery (in fact, a "sniff test" confirmed the stongest smell was the plastic air filter pipe that seems to have some kind of dust deposited on it). I'll update the thread if I find anything.

[setsquare]

Good call, I'll have a look later. The smell is definately stronger in the area of the battery (in fact, a "sniff test" confirmed the stongest smell was the plastic air filter pipe that seems to have some kind of dust deposited on it). I'll update the thread if I find anything.

OK, had a look under the battery cover, the fuses & wiring (as far as I can trace back) look OK, no sign of damage to the coil packs. However, the smell is strongest where the main wiring loom comes up into the battery compartment. Am I right in thinking the starter motor & possibly alternator are buried down here somewhere, & this could be a sign that one of them is on the way out? I think I'll have to drop this down to a dealer for them to look at TBH, seems not worth the risk of just ignoring!

[viewer]

OK, had a look under the battery cover, the fuses & wiring (as far as I can trace back) look OK, no sign of damage to the coil packs. However, the smell is strongest where the main wiring loom comes up into the battery compartment. Am I right in thinking the starter motor & possibly alternator are buried down here somewhere, & this could be a sign that one of them is on the way out? I think I'll have to drop this down to a dealer for them to look at TBH, seems not worth the risk of just ignoring!

Check the tightness of the connections. A loose connection will cause heating of the adjacent wire and plastic.

[setsquare]

Check the tightness of the connections. A loose connection will cause heating of the adjacent wire and plastic.

OK, issue solved - she's been holding it on the clutch again in stop/start traffic & fried it! The dust is burned off friction material. She went through two clutches on the previous fabia, the last one lasted about 18 months & the friction disc had literally come apart. Told her to drive the thing properly from now on, or sort her own problems out in future. Bloody women drivers!