A good way to monitor the mechanical health of your pickup truck is to, in the words of Gandalf, “always follow your nose.” Odors are often the first clue that something funny might be going on in your truck. While not all smells mean something bad, usually a burning smell isn’t great. Here are 10 reasons why your truck smells like burning.
Air conditioning compressor clutch
You may not have known that your A/C compressor could have a clutch, but it sure does. As a Motortrend writer reports, there are a few different car parts that have friction surfaces that must wear. Your truck’s brakes and clutch are two of the most common of these types of parts. Unlike a transmission’s clutch, A/C compressors also have clutches and can burn out just like anything else.
Fan belt
The fan belt is a common source of a burning smell coming from your car or truck. The engine doesn’t just drive the vehicle’s wheels; it also drives a number of other systems under the hood via belts. The systems include the water pump, alternator, air injection pump (smog pump), power steering pump and the aforementioned air conditioning compressor. Any of these can have a worn belt that slips or a seized part that will tear a belt apart, often resulting in a burnt rubber smell.
Clutch lining
MotorTrend says there are five different types of mechanical odors: friction material, lubricant, rubber, fuel and coolant. All of this can smell like burning. As we mentioned earlier, there are some surfaces that are made to withstand certain friction, such as the brakes, transmission, clutch linings, and AC compressor. If there is a burning smell coming from the truck when you use the manual transmission clutch on a steep grade, you could very well be smelling the clutch lining. This doesn’t necessarily mean there is a problem, but you may be slipping the clutch too much.
burning oil
This source of burning smell coming from the truck is usually found in older vehicles that may leak oil. Oil leaks are never a good thing, but some cases are certainly worse than others. Although you may never have personally smelled the difference, burnt oil has a distinctly different odor profile than brake or clutch burn. Oil smoke is often a blue-gray mist emitted by your vehicle.
Just because you smell burning oil and see smoke doesn’t mean there’s a problem. One of the most common causes of this is a sloppy oil change or some other fluid change that has spilled onto something like the manifold or block or any other part of the car that gets hot.
brake lining
This smell is similar to that of a burnt clutch lining. However, you will always know your brake smell because it will come after a moment of hard braking. If the brake lining burns well enough, you may smell another smell when the brakes stop working.
It’s also worth noting that just because you smell burnt brakes, it doesn’t mean it’s coming from your truck. MotorTrend notes that semi-truck drivers who own their own tractor will often use the trailer brakes to save wear on their personal brakes. It’s not uncommon to smell these brakes on a long downhill section of the interstate.
Electrical wiring
Poor wiring is always a hot spot for a burning smell or a full-blown fire. It’s not uncommon, especially on garage-built cars, for a spliced section of wire to cause a bit of burn. Our cars and trucks are full of powerful electrical currents. If the wrong wire is used in the right place, you will eventually (or maybe very quickly) experience a fire. This is especially common in older cars and trucks
Coolant leak
Hot coolant doesn’t really burn or even smoke, but if it seeps into a hot pipe, it will still give off a distinctive smell that smells like hot fudge if it was made by a witch or some other sister creature you would. never dream of having butterscotch.
This often comes from a broken hose or other parts of your cooling system. However, coolant goes to most major places in your truck’s mechanical system, which means it can be anything from a minor problem with a hose to a major problem like a blown head gasket.
What do you do if there is a burning smell coming from your car?
If you ever smell a burning car or truck, find a safe place to pull over, open the hood, and see if you can find an obvious cause for the smell. Look for smoke, liquid, or any other sign that something is wrong. If you can’t find the source and the smell persists, call a tow truck and have it checked out.
