I THINK it's oil. There's no visible smoke. There is a distinct SMELL that smells almost like plastic burning. I only get this smell when I am driving the car (not when I am in neutral) and when I hit the gas real hard. It smells like nothing I've smelled before (maybe because I've never smelled burning synthetic until now?). But anyway, I was also thinking it could be an exhaust leak at the Y-pipe. I'll rule that one out when I install my headers in a few days... But for real, anyone have any ideas?

I don't smoke on startup or at idle.
My exhaust smells normal at the tail pipes at idle.

But the smell is annoying and I wanna get rid of it! The girlfriend hates it.

 

Burning synthetic smells just like burning mineral oil to me. Is your oil level diminishing?

If the odor is only noticable under heavy load, it may be the cat converter lighting off and producing lots of sulfur dioxide (with the telltale rotten egg odor).

 

Crawl under the car, see if you ran over a plastic bag..could be melted to the pipe somewhere.

 

Just had that happen to me a few weeks ago... a plastic bag caught my catalytic convertor, and when the thing heated up, it smelled almost like hot glue.

(laughs) I let it burn off.

 

Well my cat has been gutted for over a year now... but the smell is new (well a month or two). It smells like that every time I mash out. My friend thinks its my seals- but why doesn't it smoke on startup?

 

After you have driven hard, stop the car and pop the hood. Look at the base of the valve covers, just above the exhaust manifolds. Do you see a whisp of smoke or vapor? Does it smell burnt in that area? If so, your valve covers are leaking just enough to drip on the manifolds but not enough to leak onto the ground. Another place to look: check under the car by the rear of the oilpan/transmission. Does it look wet? Oil could be dripping onto the exhaust pipe. One last thing to check is the PCV valve. If it is plugged, pressure would build up in the engine and you may smell that.

 

I THINK IVE GOT DIFFERENTIAL FLUID LEAKING ONTO MY EXHAUST!