Has anyone come across a burning rubber smell after a long journey or high speed driving ?
I did a long journey from Cardiff to Stoke-on-Trent recently which was all motorway,doing approx 80mph most of the time,when I got home there was a strong smell of burning rubber but I didn't find any problems with the tyres.Any idea's ?

did you forget the unleash the dog from the bumper before you left?

hehe Only joking..

seems strange why you should smell rubber!

It could only be smelt at the back of the car,the person who was with me went to open the boot and mentioned it,but you couldn't smell it inside the car

funny u mention this, when i was working on the rear bumber, i kept getting a burning smell as if a wire was overheating - i was doing some wiring at the time,(battery was disconnected) never found what it was,

chris, do you normally do long runs?, I sometimes get a wiff of plastic/rubber but nothing is burning or melting s who knows what it is. ( its not the cats).

What could it be?

Most runs I do are medium about 40-60 miles.The cardiff run was the longest I've done but it has happened on a medium run,but I really giving it a good thrashing !!!

cat smells are different.. i always find cats give off a Sulphur eggy smell...

You could regret starting this Chris!

I drove to Stoke on Sunday, didnt notice any funny smells, some funny people, strange cars. Is there a brewery there?:smilegrin:

If the smell is coming into the cabin while you are driving...I would think that it is your clutch burning. When you say boot, do you mean the shidt boot (unless you're in an automatic). If it's in the rear, check the brake lines....maybe the hoses got caught on something and they're burning up. anyways, good luck.

I cannot smell anything in the car while drive.The smell comes from the rear of the vehicle,ie the boot (lugguage compartment to all you posh people)only when I have finished my journey and the vehicle is cooling down.I know it can't be me because I've had my bath for this year :smilegrin:

chris,

You dont think it is the Exhaust heating up on your trip and causing the coating of the exhaust to smell? or actually coming from the underseal on the bodywork getting warm from the exhaust?



[Edited on 27-2-2002 by Administrator]

You might be right !!

It's only happened when I have done a long motorway run at about 80 mph and a medium run on open A roads where I've really thrashed it ,which would both make the exhuast hot or the exhaust mountings could have got warm

I have had exactly what you describe on a few occasions.
Decent motorway run (45 mins at 80) and stood at the back of the car there is a faint hot/burning rubber smell.
Hasn't happened recently though.

I get it too, and I have no idea what it is. Mine seems to come from under the drivers side passenger door, or around the back wheel somewhere.

And I'm sure the fact that it happens when I drive to Stoke to purely coincidental

[Edited on 2-3-2002 by NotoriousREV]

I have just got my Is200 and have noticed the same smell. The wife gave me stick she thought i'd been booting it!!

i think think it is the coating from the exhaust... or the body undercoat... i have smelt this on other newish cars....

When i was in the states i smelt it on the hire car... the heat softened the undercoating

[quote]i think think it is the coating from the exhaust... or the body undercoat... i have smelt this on other newish cars....

When i was in the states i smelt it on the hire car... the heat softened the undercoating[/quote]

Hmmm, doesn't smell like new exhaust and mine's done 12k miles anyhow - I haven't been bothered enough to have crawl underneath, but I guess it may be an exhaust hanger as they're usually rubber - deffo smells of hot rubber.

Hey Notorious, are you keepin your IS then? Wot happened to the RS?

Mines 2 years old with nearly 50k on the clock and it still smells, didn't do it from new though, only the last 6 or 9 months.

lexicon, I still haven't decided, although my insurance is due on thursday, so it looks as though I'll keep it, unless someone gives me £13,500 before then

I've never experienced the burning rubber smell myself but i do seem to smell a sulfer like smell when i "get on it" Have you guys ever smelled that?

??

[quote]I've never experienced the burning rubber smell myself but i do seem to smell a sulfer like smell when i "get on it" Have you guys ever smelled that?[/quote]

I guess by "get on it", you mean nailing it :tumble:
The sulphurous smell is from the cat - hydrogen sulphide (i think) is a by-product.

Phew - thx guys.... I get this smell too - noticed it a fair few times, especially if after the 'jaunt' I go in the boot or back seat (I mean to get stuff, not climbing in to check for size!)
So I assume all is well then and quite normal for Lexus(s) (Lexi ??) to smell after a drive. (I always drive 'enthusiasticaly' so I won't pass comment on whether this smell is only after pressing on a little......)

Typical, only after reading this thread, I got my first instance of the burning smell. Did a five hour run from Surrey County Council to Stoke and drove the last hour and a half with a heavy boot. Lots of fourth gear from 60 to 100 to break away from stupid drivers trying to barge through in the fast lane. Saw an awesome GS though, X300LEX if anyone's seen it.
Haven't cleaned the external of the exhaust since I got the car before christmas (what do I use?) and I don't think is was ever cleaned.
I do think the Stoke connection is rather uncanny.

[quote](I mean to get stuff, not climbing in to check for size!)[/quote]

funny, I was imagining something else entirely

[quote]funny, I was imagining something else entirely [/quote]

Hey..... you could go giving a girl a bad name around here!!! :smilegrin:

I get the same problem, even with short journeys. I've had the car over 9 months and occasionaly I can smell a burning smell when getting out of the drivers side. I have noticed it since day one. Might ask the dealer the next time it goes for a service.

Ian

Am I right that everybody who smelled this strange smell in the back of the car after a
long journey or a speed journey is using the stock exhaust?

The smell I get is noticed as soon as you get out of the car. I think its coming from under the car rather than the exhaust. It only happens on rare occasions and usually for no reason, could be a 5 minute trip to the supermarket.

My second service is due in 2000 miles time so i'll ask the dealer to check it out then.

FYI anyway I have the optional chrome exhaust.

Ian

Original stock on the Sports model. Currently cleaning the gunk around the outside. Wish it would stop raining though! Never get a chance to clean the thing. To add insult to injury, I have to park on a busy one way street, so I have to wash one side, drive across the street and back up to clean the other, drive across again to wax the other side etc., etc.

I guess that those smells comes from the brakes. I also have that kind of smell and I recognize that it comes from the wheels..and I assume it comes from the brake pads.... I have never asked the garage but if it is something to worry about I will ask too. But definitely it comes from the brakes...

[quote]I guess that those smells comes from the brakes. I also have that kind of smell and I recognize that it comes from the wheels..and I assume it comes from the brake pads.... I have never asked the garage but if it is something to worry about I will ask too. But definitely it comes from the brakes...[/quote]

Nope - I mean, yours might be the brakes, but mine isn't.
I know what hot brakes, exhaust etc. smell like and this isn't any of them - it's definitely hot rubber (and no, it's not the tyres :smilegrin: )

Next time it happens, I'm gonna crawl underneath and find out what it is
I still suspect it's gonna be an exhaust hanger.

but what you have described as smell like burnt rubber is also the smell i have... it is really very awful and strong...and it is also in the back...

Do you feel that the car is rolling well ? I mean or do you feel that there is resistence when the car is rolling ?

[quote]but what you have described as smell like burnt rubber is also the smell i have... it is really very awful and strong...and it is also in the back...

Do you feel that the car is rolling well ? I mean or do you feel that there is resistence when the car is rolling ?[/quote]

No, I don't have any problems with the brakes binding or sticking. The smell doesn't happen very often and is not particularly strong - you just get a whiff, I usually notice it only if I'm getting stuff out of the boot.

well I always notice if i passed by the car at the right back. try to approach the right backwheel...and mostly I smell it from there...left side is okay..but maybe it is the muffler...I am not sure....maybe I will also crawl under my car to have a look where the smell comes from

Any news about this smell?

I have this problem too, after long runs on autobahn....

I've had a smell too, after a motorway triip, but put it down to heavy breaking !!

[quote][i]Originally posted by GRiM[/i]
I had a strange smell in the car the other day too!! :sniff::sniff:

But I put that down to the eggs I had for breakfast that morning... :saint:[/quote]

Eeuww:lol:

[quote][i]Originally posted by GRiM[/i]
I had a strange smell in the car the other day too!! :sniff::sniff:

But I put that down to the eggs I had for breakfast that morning... :saint:[/quote]

I think I would have just blamed that on the cat/s!!!!

I had a similar smell of burning rubber on my car and the cause was quite simple. During one of my many adventures to my local supermarket, the exhaust pipe in the middle of the car had caught a plastic bag which it promptly melted. Since it was stuck on, I could not remove it and it gradually burned itself off after a couple of weeks.

Might be worth getting the car up on a ramp to see what's going on. I also know that the cars that come here have extra rustproofing under the car, using some sort of rubber based underseal. Same thing might have happened again.

I also noticed this not long after getting my IS200 Sport (Aug '00) I mentioned it to one of the guys at Lexus and he said it was the exhaust mountings because the exhaust gets sooooo hot !. I still get the smell but not worried about it since it's not the tyres !

i went to my dealer and he told me that the smell comes due to the exhaution pipe. The exhaution pipe is very hot and all materials which are in that area and which are out of plastic or other synthetic stuff are somehow melting or getting heated as well and the smell is due to that but of no worries

cheers

Mike

I have also experienced a burning smell, especially after long journeys at 80mph+ or when I've been booting it.

Smell does not enter the cabin but is obvious outside the vehicle after the journey.

i had the burning smell for the first time last night! really stinks - i could smell it as soon as i got out of the car.

in the area of the tunnel behind the g/box there is loads of underseal so suspect that this is the cause as the cat is about there as well.