[Mvander]

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.

 

[lorvar]

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

 

[Giallo Edizione]

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.

 

[BatnBella]

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.

 

[Hilldweller]

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.

 

[Joe in Dublin]

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

 

[CiaoFiat]

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.

 

[SeaDawg]

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!

 

[michaelo]

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!!

 

[Tweak]

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.

 

[lorvar]

Worst luck....ever. Thank god I have Continentals as original summers. If I blow out a winter tire, then that may be hard to get, given the dealer got them from Italy.

 

[Deron]

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.

I was thinking the same patterns.

 

[BlueStreak]

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

 

[Bladecutter]

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!

And as much as you guys might not like to admit, in this case, we have an owner reporting that the inside of their car is filling up with a toxic smell as they drive the car in a normal manner, and the dealer has yet to find the true source of the smell.

If there ever was a reason to potentially read up on the Lemon Law, THIS WOULD BE IT.

If you can't drive your car because its trying to fill itself up with burning rubber, then you shouldn't be subject to keeping it around. There isn't a single person that can say that this condition is NORMAL while driving a car.

BC.

 

[Tweak]

I guess I'd have to agree, some wiring expels toxic fumes (at least it used to) so I'd say it's ideal to relentlessly pursue resolving the issues, hope the dealer quickly identifies the problem soon and it doesn't come to having to worry over it being a "lemon" though.

 

[WLDTOPO]

Respectfully, we are jumping to some pretty big conclusions here. A smell in the car and the car filling with toxic fumes are significantly different things. If the dealer is truly uncooperative and refuses to provide a loaner, contact Fiat. The number is in your owners manual. As a guy who owns way more tools than I need and can't keep my hands off, I probably would be checking my exhaust system from the exhaust manifold all the way to the catalytic converter, which gets very hot. It could also be a stuck brake pad. Finally, I would not rule out a wiring issue, but the fact that the problem lasted more than a few minutes makes a wiring issue unlikely. You would have blown a fuse quickly. I believe the car does have a cabin filter by the way, but could be wrong. Before we start jumping to conclusions as to the vehicle quality, threaten to sue, talk lemon laws, or form an Occupy Fiat coalition, call Fiat. Let us all know how that goes. I am sure that the issue can be quickly identified and resolved by any decent technician.

 

[WLDTOPO]

I agree by the way that this must be resolved immediately and with minimal aggravation to michaelo. It is unfortunate that it has not already been taken care of. My dealer has been great to work with, but unfortunately it sounds like New Jersey is not as customer service focused. My one experience with Fiat corporate made me believe that they are very focused on providing a good customer experience. Good luck with this michaelo. I will be curious to see how corporate handles it and what the issue actually is.

 

[SeaDawg]

And as much as you guys might not like to admit, in this case, we have an owner reporting that the inside of their car is filling up with a toxic smell as they drive the car in a normal manner, and the dealer has yet to find the true source of the smell.

If there ever was a reason to potentially read up on the Lemon Law, THIS WOULD BE IT.

If you can't drive your car because its trying to fill itself up with burning rubber, then you shouldn't be subject to keeping it around. There isn't a single person that can say that this condition is NORMAL while driving a car.

BC.

Most REASONABLE people are willing to give the repair facility a REASONABLE amount of time to resolve the issue. A NEW YORK MINUTE isn't a REASONABLE amount of time. Some problems DO take longer to resolve than others. Yes, it's personally very frustrating sometimes, but if you give the process time to work, it usually does.

And as a 'general comment' people experiencing problems in this forum and other 500 forums are advised early on way too often to 'get a lawyer', check their state's 'lemon law', etc.

 

[BatnBella]

Okay guys - apparently some of you did not actually fully read or fully comprehend my earlier post. So for those of you having some difficulties understanding it, I will attempt to explain it in simpler terms.

I did NOT say get a lawyer and sue anyone now.

I did NOT state that Michaelo's car was indeed a lemon.

What I DID recommend was to read up NOT "lawyer up" on the specifics ahead of time (that would be this part: 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) to have the knowledge easily accessible as there are definitely rules and regulations that designate a car as a lemon. Those rules and regulations do tend to vary from state to state. Forewarned is forearmed. It is quite likely that, despite his problems, the car is nowhere close to even qualifying IF it came down to that.

I also stated that I sincerely hoped it would not come to that (that would be this part: I sincerely hope you get your problem resolved and don't have to go the legal route) and that he should be polite but firm with his dealer on his expectations with the car.

I do resent the implications that I or the collective "we" or whomever the comments were directed to are on the sue-happy wagon.

I have never in my life sued anyone for anything. I have found that being persistent, reasonable and willing to help find solutions solves most problems. Having said that, I still advise knowing exactly where he stands in regards to the law.

And, btw, invoking the lemon law does not usually result in "sueing" someone - again, there are specific parameters that if they are met result in specific actions that run the gamut from replacement vehicles to money back.

 

[CiaoFiat]

I agree with you Bat. If anything, Fiat would benefit from knowing about such problems early on so that the necessary fixes can me made. Michael let us know what happens here.