Wow Michael I am sorry to hear this. I guess they gave you a lowner. Don't take the car back until they fix it.

 

No loaner...'sorry we have none available sir'....that's what I got.

 

The only two rotating rubber parts that I can think of in the car it the timing belt and the serpentine belt.
Could be a bad pulley that is causing the belt to burn.

Is your car doing anything else?
Screaching noise?
Overheating?

BC.

 

Please let us know what they find. It's terrible that they didn't give you a loaner..

 

It is driving perfectly fine. No overheating, no screaching noises. But the burning smell seems like it coming from right from the engine area, through the vents into the cabin. I looked around with a flashlight but everything looks good. I also checked under the car for a stuck plastic bag or something. But there is nothing there. I didn't remove the plastic engine cover, so maybe there is something underneath not working right.

 

Is it constant? I have noticed that this little car seems to suck in just about every outside smell pretty easy. Probably no cabin intake filter, which has become common in the last couple years.

 

It is constant. It happens after the car is warmed up after about 10 minutes...its there whether the car is stationary idling or driving...

 

my car smelled to, until about 500 miles when i suspect any grease or whatever burned off the engine and exhaust. i suspect this is it...

 

If the smell is aparent when warming up before driving my best guess would be a belt rubbing/slipping or a piece of plastic or rubber touching somthing very hot i(ie exhaust). Since you have no odd noises I would suspect the latter.

 

When I rented a 500 this summer and spilled some gas during the fueling the gas smell came right into the cabin. I guess the cabin is not all that well sealed. Has the dealer gotten back to you Michael? I would think this is something they could find quickly..

 

Disagree on the cabin not being well sealed. Doors are as hard to close, when buttoned up, as my 1968 VW Beetle was when new.

 

Not sure how the convert is but I agree with SeaDawg, my Sport is very well sealed it seems, my first thought was electrical burning but that is a much different and toxic smell so seems a bit less likely.

 

Hey Michaelo, I have this same problem.

I have a Pop/Auto purchased in March and now has about 3000 miles. I notice the smell, which seems like burning plastic, sometime during the first 1000 miles but not immediately after we purchased it. Its more noticeable with the air on "fresh" rather than "recirc", and stronger if I drive hard. I took it to the dealer and they blew me off (claiming they couldn't smell anything).

On the theory that whatever was burning could be "burned off", I went out for a 200 miles drive in the mountains and drove the bejeezus out of the car. The smell was BAD during the drive, but the next day in normal driving the smell was greatly reduced. The last few months I only noticed it occasionally, and would switch the air intake to recirc if it bothered me.

If you get no satisfaction from the dealer, you could try what I did.

Good luck!

 

I have 8k on my prima Sport and I noticed it at first. I took it in to the dealer and they claimed it was just a new car breaking in. It's was gone after about 4k.

 

I got it back from the dealer, they said it was a bad o ring around the oil filter housing, and that the replaced it. I drove it for 30 minutes and it was burning oil again. Terrible smell. I have to bring it back again...

 

I noticed on somewhat rare occasion some kind of smell I cannot really accurately describe but it is from what I can tell some kind of fluid smell, no leaks and nothing being flagged and so rare I have often thought it might be other cars around me, plus I don't recall it anytime recently and am near the 3800K mark roughly.

 

check the filter housing for a new leak, could be the last of the old oil burning off. use a flash light and check it out.

 

Where is the filter housing? is it in front of the engine on the passenger side? This looks like it might become a long saga of back and forth at the dealership...I hope this is not a lemon law case..what a huge headache that would be.

 

I found the oil filter housing, I don't see any leaks. I gave the engine a good inspection with my flashlight and followed my nose. There are no visible leaks. However the oil burning type of smell is coming from right where the motor oil dipstick/motor oil cap area is. But I don't see anything leaking oil there either. It almost seems like its burning within the inside of the engine itself and permeating through the head of the engine...[I know that must be a ridiculous statement].

 

If the filiter o-ring was bad or incorrectly installed, then oil would have been leaking onto the engine all that time and no doubt some still remains plus any they spilled refilling. Give it some miles to see if it burns off.

 

Try driving with the plastic cover off the engine. It is foam filled so who knows what might have been absorbed into it. Merry Christmas all.

 

Something is touching the exhaust manifold, check it and check underneath.

 

Sounds like cosmoline or other anti-corrosive that might've been applied to the exhaust parts or cat-con and is slowly burning off.
I'd get under there and wash it down.

Mine has the odor after a very brisk mountain run; doesn't smell on grandma rides though.

 

So sorry to read of your troubles.


Please look up your state lemon law now while you are in the relative beginning of your troubles. The parameters are usually very specific and you will want to keep very good documentation if you do indeed need to pursue that unhappy avenue. I went through VERY painful problems with my last sportscar - definitely a lemon but because I wasn't aware of the specifics of the law, I could not utilize it to assist me. I sincerely hope you get your problem resolved and don't have to go the legal route but it is wise to be fully prepared just in case.

And be polite but firm with your dealer - it is their job to make sure the car is 100%, that is why we have the warranty. If you pick the car up and still notice problems on the way home, turn right back around. Also, Fiat is functioning state side under Chrysler, LLC therefore the studios do have affliations with other dealerships. If the Fiat is your only car and they don't have a Fiat loaner, ask for another car make or a rental paid for by them or shuttle rides to where you need to go. You shouldn't be without transportation that you are paying for because of problems that are not your fault.

 

so tired of people jumpin to the lemon law.....its a machine it will have issues....so sue happy..

 

Incredulous as it may seem I totally agree with you on this one!

 

For the sake of the Fiat Brand I think it's really important issues like this get addressed. Yes, all cars will have issues but right out of the box? For this car to be successful it has to be reliable. No one should have terrible burning rubber smells from their car ever.

 

Well here is an update, I took it out for a ride to see if I could burn off what might be risidual oil, and I hit a small pothole at 20 mph and blew out the front drivers side tire. AAAArrrgghhhhh!!! It is not repairable because the sidewall is cut open and so I need to order a new one. I can't believe such a small pothole in the road would blow out the tire. Furthermore to access the spare tire [which is under the car passenger side] a cable needs to be unwound from inside the trunk so it falls down. [It hangs off a cable line] Mine was stuck. I had to call for tow service and it took him two hours to get it out from underneath. So now, I am riding on the spare tire with the smell of oil in the cabin. I have never had some much bad luck with a car. The new problem is that these stupid Firestone FireHawk tires are on backorder and it could take some time to get a new one. Even tirerack has them on backorder. Unbelievable. Everybody order an extra tire now, because it might not be available when you need it!!

 

A couple months ago I had a similar issue. I was in a parking lot and hit a fairly small pot hole and blew out the sidewall of my front passenger tire. Fortunately for me I only live 30 minutes from Tire Rack so I made the drive up the same day to replace it. I have the Continental tires on mine. My wife has the Firehawks on her Pop Cabrio(no spare), so thanks for the heads up.




Sent from my Autoguide iPhone app

 

Sorry to hear of your troubles, don't have Firehawks on my Sport but good heads up for others. Want to define "stuck", what caused it to be stuck if you figured it out? I hit a not so small pothole and it was loud and I knew for sure something was going to be bad but nothing happened at all so I guess you just happen to hit just right and killed your tire.