Ever since I've had the TL, when I go for a spirited drive, I have noticed a strange burning smell when I stop. It hasn't burnt down yet, but it's bloody annoying, and rather smelly. All the belts appear fine, and are not slipping as far as I can tell, and I can't track down where the stink is coming from. Bloody annoying.

Is it the same smell you get when you are at the train station..??? Train Smell..?

its not a clutch burning smell?

what burning? oil? rubber?

could be some driveshaft greese (which almost every magna will spray into the engine bay at some stage of its life no biggy) warming up a little bit

Nah, not clutch, I deffs know that smell, I regularly 4wd in trucks :). It's really weird, what do you mean by train smell? I'm just a poor country boy... No public transport out here.

Train smell is like clutch but not as evil.. I was aiming at Brakes..? If you know what clutch smells like you know brakes..? How spirited are we talking..?? Like holy spirited.?? Have you poked around to see where it is coming from.? Under car, under hood.?

We dont have a rotten egg smell do we..???

Hmmm. Could be brakes. They do feel like poo compared to even my TJ sports. I'll have a nosey about (see what I did there?) next time I go for a squirt. Nothing real crazy driving wise, just a little WOT here and there, and some more than average braking.

Nope. Nothing like rotten eggs.... Why?

Nope. Nothing like rotten eggs.... Why?
Rotten eggs indicates a dead catalytic converter.

Ah. That could indicate underlying problems on a car with less than 94k on the clock...

I've got a pretty strong rotten egg smell with my TL. Very noticeable whenever I pull up somewhere. Is that definitely a sign that my cat is dead?
It's a manual 2004 model with 125,000ks - fully serviced and well maintained... isn't that a bit early for the cat to go?

You can never predict when they fail, its just luck of the draw. Generally they are good for over 100,000kms but other problems can cause them to break down sooner. They HATE raw fuel being dumped into them so if you are running extremely rich (or running anti-lag haha) it will destroy cats quickly.

I just found another cause of bad smells in my Magna (engine bay, not inside cabin)

Mine was stinky around the front right wheel, but not the brakes. Opened the bonnet and it seems to be coming from the engine belts area - followed my nose a little deeper and found bits of rubber falling out of the engine mount.
It looks like as the engine mount is breaking apart, bits of rubber may be getting flung about the engine bay, cooking or being ground up amongst the belts and pulleys, or just smoking from the excess movement in the mount itself.

So one more option for unwanted mechanical smells - engine mounts, especially drivers side.

Is a common thing with Magnas when the dist seal or the rear rocker cover is leaking a little, the oil gets hot on the exhaust and then when you drive it a long or sprited drive you get the heat sheilds a little hotter than normal and the oil burns off

Have a look at the heat sheilds on the flex pipe, you will most likely find burnt oil on them

yup I had this with my old Magna. Used to sit at traffic lights with oil smoke coming out of the bonnet lol

Is a common thing with Magnas when the dist seal or the rear rocker cover is leaking a little, the oil gets hot on the exhaust and then when you drive it a long or sprited drive you get the heat sheilds a little hotter than normal and the oil burns off

Have a look at the heat sheilds on the flex pipe, you will most likely find burnt oil on them

exactly what mine has done. been meaning to do rocker cover gaskets.

have had a search around and seems like 30ish a gasket and bout n hours work?

My daughters TJ is doing the same. At first I thought it had a plastic bag burnt on the cat.
I have planed to do the rocker covers gaskets when I do the plugs next week as I will have the top apart anyway.

Okies here is a little promo for AMC members who need rocker cover gaskets. Usually I sell them for $27 each (RRP is around $45 each) per bank plus postage, that is $54 plus $12 for postage

I am willing to do them in pairs for $54 including a courier bag. The only catches are.....you need to get a pair, they will be removed from the card board packing to fit in the bag and finally (out of my control this one) if you are in QLD regional or WA regional you will need to pay for freight as my courier does not do std deliveries in some areas, email me your postcode if in doubt

So what you are getting is 2 cover gaskets, 6 tube seals and a 1kg couriers please bag