Smelling rubber? Help?

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davepetch

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hey guys I sometimes smell burning rubber when my 02 LS V8 is at idle at a stop light or when I pull into the garage. Has anyone had this problem before? Any suggestions?
 
No, it's a rubber smell of something burning. There's no rubber under the car except the tires and they aren't rubbing they are in spec and the proper size.
 
I checked the drive belt and it's in perfect condition and all the pulleys rotate freely and are all aligned flush to the crank pulley. Thanks for the reply but it must be something else. I would really appreciate some more suggestion.
 
I know exactly what's going on. I had the same symptoms. Eventually I was able to see smoke coming from in between the hood and the windshield. The verdict is: LEAKY VALVE COVERS. The oil is leaking into the sparkplug cylinders and is causing the coil boots to burn. That is the rubber you are smelling. This was a mystery problem for 3 months for me. I even reported it under warranty. They could not diagnose the problem. After warranty went out I had to pay and get them to do an oil leak diagnosis. Turns out that was the problem. Bastards would not fix it under warranty. They told me that I had described an "electrical smell". I gave them the finger and fixed it myself. I am almost certain that this is your problem. Hope this helps.

Also, there was no visible oil loss or leaking when the problem was found. It was all contained in the valve cover.
 
hey osain, i think i have the same problem not sure tho. 2000 ls8 i drove about 2 miles one way left the car on for like 3 minutes came back drove like 3 miles the other way left the car on for like 10 minutes then returned home bout a mile and saw a light amount of smoke didn't notice it at first. smelled somethin but i don't know much about cars or the smell of burning oil but it was either burning oil or rubber.
 
there is oil seeping from here. where the yellow dot is on the picture that the arrows are pointing to its a cover of some sort with 6 bolts in each. are these valve covers? if so is that what you had to do to fix yours?

00 ls8 motor.jpg
 
It's worth checking into. It affects the performance of your car more than you think. One tel-tale sign that will tell you is by pulling out one of your coils. Check one of the rear ones. It it's filled with oil, you are leaking. When i changed the gaskets, I also checked and cleaned each coil and the sparkplug. After that, the car ran better and got much better gas mileage. At first I got 275 miles per tank. Now I average 340 or better! The stealership wanted to charge me almost $1000 to do the job. I did it in my garage for $130.

Where is the smoke coming from? Same place?
 
eastcoast27959 said:
there is oil seeping from here. where the yellow dot is on the picture that the arrows are pointing to its a cover of some sort with 6 bolts in each. are these valve covers? if so is that what you had to do to fix yours?
Click to expand...

Yes, that is what you will remove in order to access the coils and the sparkplugs. Pull one of those out However, the whole thing is the valve cover. I tried to upload some pics, but they're too big. I don't know how to size them down to fit.
 
i couldn't really tell where the smoke was coming from it was so dismal. it looked like the ps of what i now know as the valve cover, BUT my car drives fine, hasn't done it recently it only did that once, and no check engine light has ever came on since i had it. and i got the codes pulled anyways a week ago. would this not show a code? the oil looks to be coming out of where htat cover is bolted on
 
My engine light never came on either. If oil is coming out, they need to be changed. Ford changed the material of the gasket to make them better than the stock one. After replacing the gaskets, it should not do it again. Big problem on the '00-'02 models.
 
do u think its ok to drive it for a little while. or is it gonna cause other major problems. i don't drive much. i'm lucky to drive it once a day.
 
thanks guys, that sounds exactly what my problem is. That would explain the rubber smell. I will pull the valve covers tomorrow and check the spark plugs for signs of any oil or burnt coil boots. I will let you know what I find. Thanks again.
 
another common cause for that smell is a dying caliper causing the pads to overheat.
 
Could it also be possible that you ran over something (e.g a plastic bag) and it adhered to the exhaust? How long has this problem been occurring?
 
Okay so this morning I could smell the rubber again as I pulled into the garage so this time I let the car idle, I popped the hood and I could smell the rubber on the passenger side near the firewall. The exhaust pipe was dry and no signs of dripping oil. So after the car cooled down I pulled off the coil cover on the passenger side and all was clean and dry. Then I removed the coils and could not find any sign of oil in any of the spark plug wells. Reassembled everything and am now waiting for it to happen again. I am stumped. Maybe I will need to take it to the dealer. Any final suggestions ?
 
next time touch that wheel and see if it is significantly hotter than the other wheels. my money is on brakes.
 
no it is not the brakes. I just did a complete brake job, new rotors, pads and even made sure I lubricated the slide pins. I thought the brakes too, so when I first noticed the smell I bent down and smelled each wheel but nothing, but thanks for the suggestion.
 
any chance you over filled the brake fluid and it's burnig up over on the driver's side? just a thought.
 
no, the brake fluid level is right on the mark. I guess I will just keep looking. Thanks for the ideas.
 
eastcoast27959 said:
do u think its ok to drive it for a little while. or is it gonna cause other major problems. i don't drive much. i'm lucky to drive it once a day.
Click to expand...

It should be alright. I drove around on mine for like 3 months before I did anything about it. No telling how long before I noticed it that it started. It's a hard job, but worth the savings if you (or a buddy) knows what they're doing.
 
appreciate the help. in post 18 he says he can smell it on the ps by the firewall. thats where i can smell it..when it occurs. hasn't occured but once. i could have a dying caliper though . i'm due for an 80000 mile check up and new tires. think the dealership will notice if anything needs to be fixed. this is my first car that i've had to pay for its fixs and repairs so i've never takin a car to the dealer for anything hah
 
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