If there s an oil leak in the vehicle and it drops on a hot part of the engine it can produce a burning smell which can be easily mistaken for burning rubber.
Car smells of burnt rubber.
The odor itself will typically drift in through the ac ducts and it may not last for too long as the burnt fuse doesn t make a continuous smells like some of the other problems on this list.
If you have an oil leak and then it drops onto the hot exhaust when driving you will smell burning when you get out of the car.
A leak in the head gasket may mean the whole component requires replacement although you may be lucky enough just to need the seal replaced.
Additionally your engine belt may have slipped overheating the rubber thus causing the burning smell.
If you experience something like this then pop the hood and inspect the fuses.
From a loose rubber hose or head gasket leak to an electrical fault.
The odor drifts through the ac ducts to drift to your nose.
A fault in the electrical system can cause the smell of burning rubber.
When an accessory pulley has seized it creates a large amount of friction against the drive belt heating it up.
The answer to why you may sense a burning rubber smell in your car and not some other type of smell is because there are lots of rubber components rubber hoses and other things made out of hard rubber which may be coming into contact with extreme heat which is why your car may smell like burning rubber.
The smell of a burnt fuse doesn t last long as the fuse burns quickly.
You cannot take this lightly at all because it could start a fire in the car.
A drive belt may melt from engine components that are too hot or a seized pulley.
A melting drive belt also called a serpentine or accessory belt smells like burning rubber and is often accompanied by a shrill squealing noise.
It happens whenever you shift gears and the smell is usually similar to that of a burning newspaper or the burning rubber smell from car.
So you can recognize this quite easy.
It tends to be more noticeable when you re out of the car or when the windows are down.
Clutch can be one of the reason why burning smell from car happens.
You may not notice the burning smell when in the car but it is very noticeable when you get out of the car.