Smell when i turn car off

[xxxcool21]

-my car has 2100 miles on it and just in the last 300 or so miles whenever i shut my car off it smells like something is burning. I havnt changed the oil yet so that eliminates something dripping on exhaust or whatnot. Taking it in next week to deal with damn dealership...so any input so i dont have to drive out there would be appreciated. thanks

 

[Pmpkinhead]

Is it undercoated?
1244(mspo)

 

[unwrittenLaw]

Coolant leak?

 

[xxxcool21]

i havnt seen any coolant leak...and what would be undercoated?
Thanks

 

[andr3w]

I have had the same problem. It is definately a coolant smell that is very noticeable after a relatively long drive while I idle the car to cool the turbo down. After six months and several visits to the dealer to find the problem we noticed the coolant level had dropped about 3/4 inch. The current theory is that there is a tiny leak near the turbo and any leaked fluid is immediately burned off by the turbo casing since it is so hot. Just yesterday the dealer replaced a hose that Mazda has seen break on other MSP's that had coolant leaks. (They also realligned my car to the real MSP specs, wow the torque steer is vastly reduced and they replaced my bushings - no clunk at least yesterday!)

I'll let you know if the smell goes away!

 

[xxxcool21]

thanks, i didnt notice a huge loss in the coolant fluid level...but it did look a little bit lower. I've only had the car for a month and a week...with slight hesitation i still love the car. My car does have more torque steer than i thought it should. thanks for the reply i'll see if i can have the car re-aligned and get that hose replaced. Thanks

 

[andr3w]

It took months to register a reduction in coolant level. Plus coolant leaves a white residue and I was trying to solve this while we had lots of salt on the roads. One other thing they tried which may have improved the smell slightly was reduce the level of coolant in the overflow tank below the max line. My MSP had too much coolant. Another thing they found was residue of coolant on the splash shield, this was after I had been driving it for two days and the smell was really bad. This residue was probably coolant spilled at the port during the turbo install and cleaning it off did not change the smell - but the point is that there could be spilled coolant.

As for the alignment, I was having the clunk looked at - mine is only really bad on wet roads. I drove out with the service manager when I complained about the torque steer and exaggerated pulls to left and right since I put the 17's back on (had 15's for snow). The service manager looked up my alignment specs when the car was delivered, looking over his shoulder I noticed they had used 2002 Protege 5 specs!!! Needless to say this was not right! The MSP has its own specs introduce in early Jan 03.

Andrew

 

[Heathen23]

have had the same problem. It is definately a coolant smell that is very noticeable after a relatively long drive while I idle the car to cool the turbo down. After six months and several visits to the dealer to find the problem we noticed the coolant level had dropped about 3/4 inch. The current theory is that there is a tiny leak near the turbo and any leaked fluid is immediately burned off by the turbo casing since it is so hot

It is possible you both have a leak but I do not beleive this is the case. When our engines run hot the overflow valve on our coolant resvoir's pumps out the smell of coolant after hard driving (heating the engine to a high temp). I had this same issue, thinking I had a leak because after every longer, or hard drive my engine bay would reek of coolant. Problem is I could search my engine bay for an hour and not find a single clue of coolant splash or a leak anywhere.

 

[Newf]

anyone notice that the engine gets REALLY hot? When I was test driving mine, I barely drove it, and the engine would get relly warm, like i wouldn't touch anything under the hood at all due to heat.

 

[andr3w]

Heathen 23

I would agree. This is what I thought for months until I actually noticed a significant reduction in the coolant level - it is going somewhere. The hose fix is something the dealership is trying since they have had to deal with a few visible leaks as has mazda as a whole.

Also, I find it hard to believe that you, xxxcool21 and myself are the only ones riding our MSP's hard enough to make this smell.

We'll see if it goes away now I have the ne hose, have only driven it to work and back since the fix which is not a fast or hard drive,

 

[Heathen23]

Also, I find it hard to believe that you, xxxcool21 and myself are the only ones riding our MSP's hard enough to make this smell.

Your not. I just told you I had it as well and I know several people have asked why does my car smell like coolant (especially when the car is new)? Some people have a legitimate leak near the turbo but almost all people with MSP's have the coolant smell after longer drives.

 

[xxxcool21]

I still get the smell after a quick 5-10 mile jont and thats not driving the car hard...I do live in FL but the car does this at night when its not 100 degrees but 75.

---this car is fun to drive hard..

Jeff

 

[AGR]

Coolant leak is quite likely...

Many of us have had the coolant leak. After buying my MAZDASPEED, I would always notice the smell when parking in the garage. Nothing ever on the garage floor, either. I discovered mine (actually MemphisRacer noticed it first), at the fitting to the left of the BOV. It was crystallized; and yes I did notice a drop in the level of the coolant reservoir. The dealer took care of it.

 

[Tracey]

i have the same problem! exactly the same. no leak - not one drop in my driveway - just that bad burn smell.

 

[soundbombing]

I believe this burning smell that almost every msp has is definitely another overlooked item by mazda. Let's see here. If Joe blow knows anything about something then Joe should know a little. . . meaning a turbo car produces much more heat than a naturally aspirated car. I'm more comparing the mp3 models to the msp. Soooooooooo, using that the genius mazda man decided that turbos don't produce more heat at all. Why? Because the radiator in the naturally aspirated mp3 is bigger than the radiator in the higher temperature turbo vehicle which we call the msp. Oh, can someone correct me if I'm wrong.

After examing the turbo it seems that it is oil cooled and liquid cooled. I'm not an expert so I don't know if all turbos are cooled this way. But the cool thing is this! The same coolant, acutally the same HOT coolant that is being circulated through our lovely non built for boost motors is also being used to "COOL" down the turbo. Just like our non heat soaked oil cooler sized radiator finned style so called stock fmic is cooling the air tems going into the motor.

so this smell and slight loss of coolant could be from it being burnt up from the heat or the heat destroying the stock weak hoses but we all know something isn't right. i'm just spreading thoughts.

Well it's 3 in the morning and i'm tired so if this ranting means nothing i'm sorry. there are a few, that have been found, mistakes that mazda has made or overlooked. Well the obvious is they sent, they as in Mazda, or more correctly they as in FORD, put this car in the hands of calloway.

Let's see . . . Calloway, hmmm. They have a team full of bonneville, gm, trans am, alcohol funny car, corvette, c12, mc laren, blah blah blah. so does calloway = Import (nissan, toy, mazda, honda). I know a motor is a motor but they had ford or their BA's up their ass making them look bad. I don't care if they were limited to what the big wigs said or what. this car shouldn't have certain problems it does.

anyhow, i think i'm done. if you read this whole thing, thanks for listening/reading. if you are in diego and want to check out my car, cool hit me up. i'm slowly but surely making my msp better or how it should of been in the first place.

ps
i should of done more research before jumping into this deal but i'm too deep to go anywhere.

pss
i still love MY mazdaspeed.

off to pick up my car @ 5 in the morning later.

 

[xxxcool21]

well i was planning on taking the car in sometime next week, i've driven the car pretty nice since this incedent and i've been following my fluids just in the last two days i lost and 1/8 of a tank of fluid in my car after maybe 100 miles of driving. very aggrivated that a brand new car, would have so many problems...i'll also be confronting the service techs about the hesitation and clunk. blah-

 

[goonsquad]

I just noticed the smell for the first time parking in my garage. I've had the car since last friday. I checked for any coolant leaks and didn't notice anything. I guess I'll keep an eye on my coolant level and take it into the dealer if the problem persists.

 

[skilletrx]

about the undercoating; does msp come w/ an undercoating, or is that something we have to invest in?

tL

 

[yashooa]

Hmm

anyone notice that the engine gets REALLY hot? When I was test driving mine, I barely drove it, and the engine would get relly warm, like i wouldn't touch anything under the hood at all due to heat.

Mine was so hot that it would brand the image of the hood prop rod into your hand so I removed the rear underhood weather stripping and it is WAY cooler.

 

[yashooa]

Tejas baby!

about the undercoating; does msp come w/ an undercoating, or is that something we have to invest in?

tL

Well in Texas I could car less about undercoating but my car does have some black rubberlike substance sprayed on the underside.