Decided to play 'mechanic' and top up the oil on Saturday, and managed to spill a good glug in the engine bay. Ever since then, I've been having this really bad smell developing after driving (both short, gentle, rides, and rides where i give it more of a spanking), like burnt rubber. I'm quite certain it has nothing to do with the tyres, or the front brake pads - however, I would love to hear any opinions before i hand it over to a professional at the next service

Cheers!

its the oil you spilled on the engine.

engine gets hot-oil evaporates-oil smells bad-380 smells bad

give it a bit of time and it'll go away.

If its a spill it's probably just the oil that's burning off, I don't know why it would smell like rubber, and I'm not saying your wrong, but if you spilled oil while filling it, it would of just dripped down to somewhere that probably gets really hot and will eventually just burn up until its gone, of course with this you run the risk of it actually catching on fire so getting it cleaned or cleaning it yourself if you can find it would be beneficial to your cars health.

Just my amateur opinion anyways

Thanks for the quick feedback guys. Would you recommend spraying a hose/gurney inside the engine bay?

Personally I'd recommend having your mechanic put it up on a hoist and cleaning it by hand... If you use a hose you run the risk of putting water where water isn't meant to go - also just my opinion, but I'll leave further responses to the professionals

I get that smell all the time when I drive up the hills in roleystone or after giving it the boot on the highway and there is no oil outside of the engine. any other possibilities?

Funny that. A leaking rear rocker cover gasket will allow oil to dribble down the rear of the engine, missing the hot exhaust headers and collecting on the braided section of the exhaust pipe. This won't get hot enough in normal driving to heat the oil enough to smell, but give it some stick and blue smoke will develop. As you are going at a rate of knots at the time the smoke and smell trails behind the car, but when you stop it comes straight up into the ventilation ducts under the windscreen.

Had this oil smell linger for quite a while after I replaced the leaking rear rocker cover gasket. Perhaps some degreaser on that joint when the engine is cold, and a good squirt with a hose on that spot may speed up getting rid of it.

Spilt oil or a leaking front gasket is easy to spot, when you lift the bonnet blue smoke will rise from the front bank.

Funny that. A leaking rear rocker cover gasket will allow oil to dribble down the rear of the engine, missing the hot exhaust headers and collecting on the braided section of the exhaust pipe. This won't get hot enough in normal driving to heat the oil enough to smell, but give it some stick and blue smoke will develop. As you are going at a rate of knots at the time the smoke and smell trails behind the car, but when you stop it comes straight up into the ventilation ducts under the windscreen.

Had this oil smell linger for quite a while after I replaced the leaking rear rocker cover gasket. Perhaps some degreaser on that joint when the engine is cold, and a good squirt with a hose on that spot may speed up getting rid of it.

Spilt oil or a leaking front gasket is easy to spot, when you lift the bonnet blue smoke will rise from the front bank.

Perhaps in a magna but not a 380

Op give engine a good clean and time to burn off