Went for a drive to the Yarra Ranges national park and drove up and then down Mount Donna Buang Rd, in the 03 Magna.

On the way down, there was a lot of heavy braking and at the end of it when the road reached a flat, straight stretch, I noticed a smoke/burning smell in the cabin. I turned off the AC and opened the windows and the smell went away after a few min on a straight stretch of road.

Turned AC on again and left it on for another hour until I got home and the smoke smell never returned. Popped the hood about 30 min after coming home and nothing looked suspicious. Car was just serviced a week ago as well.

Dunno what that burning smell was. Reason I'm thinking brakes is because they did get a heavy workout, probably never done in this car before and the front hubcaps did have a lot of black brake dust on em - but I'm no expert and could be wrong. Anyone got any other ideas?

Could be brakes what you should do is drop the transmission back to 2nd or 3rd so it naturally coasts down and the right speed (what happens is you are pushing the engine around and this act puts drag on the car and essentially "brakes" it, much nicer than your real brakes)

You can do this with either tippy or just throwing it into 3/2 on a non tiptronic box. Make sure you slow down with the brakes before dropping it back though :P


Main thing to do is see if the smell comes back but from what you say brakes sound
Likely. Next time use gears!

A burning smell when you've cooked your brakes overworking them is normal. If you don't like it try engine braking and braking softer further back from the corner. You're not running for pole position on a racetrack, just take it easy.

lol I used to do the twisty mountain roads without proper engine braking with stock single pot brakes.

Let's say it could be smelt for a kilometre away, it's normal.

You should always use the engine to brake, you have teh tiptronic, that is ideal for those situations

If you want the brakes checked out properly then feel free to book in and I can have a good look at them and let you know if there are any issues

get the highest dot rating brake fluid you can

next check for brake pad thicknes and warped rotors

Didn't even know engine braking was a thing - I just stick it in D and go :cool:
Brakes were quite spongy as well. Will prob get em looked at, last thing I want is non-perfect brakes...

Where abouts in Melb you located Madmagna?

get the highest dot rating brake fluid you can

next check for brake pad thicknes and warped rotors

Be very careful what brake fluid you use.

DOT 3, 4 and 5.1 are all interchangeable, DOT 5 is not and must never be used in any car requiring the former.

Modern pads have less (no ?) asbestos in them, they are some sort of organic resin or somesuch. lol They REALLY STINK when used hard. They can wear fast too, worth a check to see how much pad is left, perhaps.

Be very careful what brake fluid you use.

DOT 3, 4 and 5.1 are all interchangeable, DOT 5 is not and must never be used in any car requiring the former.

Thanks Dan, near passed out when I read that great bit of advice, using Dot5, well you may as well remove your brakes and chuch them in the recycle bin now, you will even see some cars list Dot3 only, Dot4 is ok in these but Dot5 MUST only be used where specified

Now, I am really stumped how fluid will prevent pads burning but I am on Google now and I am sure I will find the answer somewhere

Driving in hilly terrain: a lesson for beginners.

Change to a lower gear. Use engine braking. If your speed is still too high use the brakes briefly to slow, and change to a lower gear. Use the brakes if needed but only briefly, don't keep them on for lengthy periods.

In the (good old) days we had a nice race way from Eagle on the Hill to the Toll Gate (older ppl in SA may remember). I could have the brakes smoking and not working at all if I used them solely and continuously, a bit scary if the lights at the bottom turned red, or by using the gearbox more and using the brakes in an on/off method, they would be fine at the bottom. This nice bit of road has been replaced by a boring section including the Heysen Tunnel, trucks still manage to lose their brakes though. lol

You should always use the engine to brake, you have teh tiptronic, that is ideal for those situations
I wouldn't go so far as to say you should always, but it certainly helps to lighten the load on the brakes. There is a fine balance though, overdoing the engine braking just puts unnecessary wear on the gearbox, clutch etc. which is a heck of a lot more expensive to repair/replace than brakes are.

In an semi-auto like this situation I'd only go so far as to keep the torque converter locked in gear (which I think normally keeps you in the 2-2.5k region), and do the remainder with the brakes. You'd have to be coming into a corner pretty hot to need the engine revving any higher than 3 grand slowing down, which you really shouldn't be doing to begin with if it's a public road.

I would honestly like to know how engine breaking wears your gearbox+engine.. it's spinning.. like it's designed to do, for 200,000 + KMs.. I would argue its possibly wearing less, since theres no combustion happening and thus not generating heat, products, etc. In fact it's still spinning when you are braking in a higher gear, just not quite as many times. Wear in relation to normal use I cannot imagine how it is very much more than standard at all.

Using your brakes for a long downhill run is plain unmaintainable. Just whack it in a lower gear and coast.

I would honestly like to know how engine breaking wears your gearbox+engine.. it's spinning.. like it's designed to do, for 200,000 + KMs.. I would argue its possibly wearing less, since theres no combustion happening and thus not generating heat, products, etc. In fact it's still spinning when you are braking in a higher gear, just not quite as many times. Wear in relation to normal use I cannot imagine how it is very much more than standard at all.

Using your brakes for a long downhill run is plain unmaintainable. Just whack it in a lower gear and coast.

Simple, It does not put strain on the engine and trans, if it did do you think that almost EVERY owners manual would tell you to use lower gears when going down hill, do you think that trucks and even some light commercials would have an exhaust brake which effectivly blocks the exhaust to give the engine more drag to slow down the car

The system is designed to assist in braking, is simple as that.

Now as for coming in hot on a public road, there are plenty of twisty country roads with 100k limits, so no laws are broken by coming into any corner "hot", the difference is how you do this, if you have decided to have a run through these roads, I dont think you will be doing that at 2500RPM, I know for one I wont, I will sit between 4 and 6000 and pretty much use the engine for 90% of my braking, the brakes will barely get warm on a run thorugh the Black Spur, dont exceed 80 and keep to my lane thus no laws are broken in any way shape or form.

Here are some quotes from your own Mits Owners Manual

Section 6-8

When travelling down steep grades, the computer may automatically select a lower gear. this function assists the engine braking efforts, reducing the need for using the brakes.

Section 6-22

It is important to take advantage of the engine braking by shifting to a lower gear while driving on steep downhill roads in order to prevent the brakes from overheating

SO that being said, lets all now start a class action against all car companies for excessive engine and transmission wear, who is with me lol

Went for a 1hr drive today along the freeway and smell didn't return, so I'm pretty sure it was the brakes like I assumed.
Next time I'll give changing the gears a try - never done that before, hah

dot 3 brake fluid is mainly used in toyota's

Went for a 1hr drive today along the freeway and smell didn't return, so I'm pretty sure it was the brakes like I assumed.
Next time I'll give changing the gears a try - never done that before, hah

Now if your first car was a VW with 4 wheel drum brakes, that's one of the first lessons you would have learnt! lol

For anyone who cares:

Took the car in to the mechanic and he took a look at the brakes, said all the pads were worn out and the rotors were uneven. Replaced all the pads, machined the rotors and flushed & replaced the brake fluid.