Hot Smelling Engine

[chrisash86]

Morning!!! Currently my V6 when ever I drive for more than 10 minutes when I park up the engine smells really hot, like it’s leaking coolant out somewhere but I’ve had it over pit can’t see anything and I’ve not had to tip the coolant up . And there’s no oil leaks either . All a bit puzzling

[Robsey]

If you are 100% certain that nothing is leaking, then I would be tempted to say "do not worry about it".
Especially if all fluid levels appear unchanged.

Just to be totally certain you could look at hose pipe connections for damp / powdery residue.

Same with the surface of the radiator fins.

And also see if the interior carpets are damp or stained in the area around the centre of the dash.
(Hinting at a leaking heater matrix).

In the recent hot weather a lot of cars are indeed running very hot, especially if stood in traffic.

My C20NE smells very hot, but in my case, a weaping camshaft cover gasket is to blame.

[chrisash86]

Cheers pal mine engine is running hot too in this weather it quickly gets up to 90-105! It needs a coolant flush whilst I’m there I’ll checke hoses etc

[Cavalier342]

The V6 lumps do run hot due to their size and that they are crammed into the engine compartment, I would carefully poke my nose around the engine bay and sniff around to see if you can smell any obvious strong smells from either radiator, coolant reservoir, coolant bridge (just under the auxiliary fan ducting just next to the engine cover)

If your heater matrix is leaking as Robsey mentioned, you should be able to notice a musty damp smell through the vents when you run the heater fan.


If you still have the under-bonnet insulating material fitted, may be worth removing that for the summer period, as it just traps more heat inside there, useless really in hot weather.

[torsion]

I recently had very hot and burnt smelling engine it was the alternator which has gone and burnt. EML came on made paperclip test which said high woltage lmfao so gone and changed it. I f I were you Id use a coolant flush additive through the system and check if the auxillary waterpump working.