Rubber smell on V6: can't pin it down..?

[Four Oaks Bookworm]

Had the cambelt changed on our V6 last month (leaky seals), and a couple of days afterwards (after a fairly steep hill climb with two kick-downs), noticed a strong hot rubber smell once we'd parked up.

Been on and off for three weeks or so now, and can't pin it down. It's not coming from the tyres, you can't smell it if you open the engine covers after running warm for a while, but it seems to be coming from underneath somewhere, and happens now pretty much everytime we go on journeys of more than 10 mins. I've read on here that slipping cambelts can give off this smell, also catalytic converters which have stopped working properly: any advice gratefully received!

(BTW, no loss of coolant or overheating/fan cutting in, and oil level is stable too)

[You've Been Bongod]

give ian taylor a bell on tuesday he will know whats wrong 01630 656006

[tomsk]

Hi Bookworm
I have a auto diesel 2.5, and had the same problem when touring in Europe.
I found that using the automatic gearbox, putting it in D1 got rid of the smell.
Hope this helps?

Tom

[mikeonb4c]

there's been a lot of good discussion on stuff like this. Try putting 'burning' AND V6' (or something like that, no dissing intended by this dieselhead ) and see what you get. One thing that emerged was that engines can smell abit, but hot air rises and with the Bongo being mid engined it can get into the cab. Personally, I only find this happens when stationary, and I have fitted a manual over-ride switch to my scavenger fan so that just one of the things I can do, should I choose, is force the flushing of air and smells out of the engine bay.

[Ian]

Something else you might want to check is a leak around the rocker head gasket area. Although you say there is no noticeable change in the oil level, a very slight seepage will not be detected by dipstick alone, and may be dripping on to the exhaust, causing the burning smell.

Lift up the passenger seat, and leave the engine running for a couple of minutes. Then get someone to rev it, and see if there are any signs of leakage.

[mikeonb4c]

Something else you might want to check is a leak around the rocker head gasket area. Although you say there is no noticeable change in the oil level, a very slight seepage will not be detected by dipstick alone, and may be dripping on to the exhaust, causing the burning smell.

Lift up the passenger seat, and leave the engine running for a couple of minutes. Then get someone to rev it, and see if there are any signs of leakage.

Yup, that kind of thing. Got bored so searching on 'buring and V6' and the recent thread popped up at:

http://www.igmaynard.co.uk/bongo/forum/ ... ning%27+V6

I think it makes a lot of sensible points (though interestingly, at a glance, it doesn't mention Ians very sensible point above)

PS - there are older discussions on the problem too so still recommend a search.

[Four Oaks Bookworm]

Thanks for all the useful advice. Don't think it's the camshaft seals (they went in Feb after a couple of weeks of 'hot oily smells', which is why we had the cambelt changed ), and it's a different kind of smell: more rubbery (thought initially we'd run over a plastic bag or summat..) I'll keep looking, thanks again

[lpgimports]

check the breather from the cam cover on the drivers side bank this is a stub that pushes into the head and has a o ring on it, this O ring is often rock hard and doing nothing...

Paul