Hey all, I've been putting up with the above mentioned smell for a little while now. It seems to have developed over time since I bought the car back in 08. Now the smell might be something else but it's very prominent when I'm riding the car hard and especially when in manual mode and once the car has warmed up. The smell is right there in the car cabin even with the windows up, additionally the centre console tends to get a bit warm at this stage, not sure if that's just coincidence. Of late as well I've noticed the shifting of the gears isn't as quick or reactive as it once was.

I have flushed the tranny oil a few times since since originally noticing the smell and that hasn't changed or reduced the smell.

I have read up as well about the auto transmission coolers you can plump into the car but there seems to be differences of opinion on this.

I'm just hoping to see if anyone has any insight to this, my regular mechanic who does the car service doesn't seem to but I also haven't asked him to drive it hard for a day to confirm. Maybe go see a auto transmission specialist?

What logic points you to the transmission?
Checked the rocker covers for leaks?

Hey MadMax. I haven't had the rocker covers checked for leaks which I can do. The only logic that pointed me to the transmission was when I had the transmission in Drive the smell was generally never there. If I drove continuously in manual tiptronic then the smell was very obvious.

Pull the transmission dipstick when it is hot and smell that. If the smell is there, you know it is the transmission.

Smell of hot oil from engine - with engine cold, run your finger along the joining face of the rocker cover and head on both banks, if it comes up oily you have a leak. On the rear bank the oil runs straight onto the exhaust pipe. Using manual tippy probably means you are hammering the car and getting the exhaust hotter than when driving normally, hence the smell.

Another thing you can check is when the car is smelly, shine a bright torch onto the front and rear exhaust sections just off the heads with the engine running, you will see blue smoke rising. This works best at night.

lxfirm - any further developments on this?
I've had the same smell (although not as strong) on 2 of 3 380s I've had.
Driving up mountain roads or driving hard/quickly produces the smell for me.

lxfirm - any further developments on this?
I've had the same smell (although not as strong) on 2 of 3 380s I've had.
Driving up mountain roads or driving hard/quickly produces the smell for me.

A lot of people come on here with problems, get some help, solve the problem, but never come back to say what it was and how they solved it.

To add to what is already here - hammering a heavy car like a 380 through the hills is going to produce some pong from the front disc pads, organic pads can smoke and smell quite a bit.

hammering a heavy car like a 380 through the hills is going to produce some pong from the front disc pads, organic pads can smoke and smell quite a bit.

True.
Though I wasn't saying driving hard through mountain roads, either just driving hard (on normal roads) or just placid driving through mountain roads makes the smell. But I get your point.
I'll have to look into the differences between organic & metallic.
Thanks