Really Worried About My Es300

[Alizerothree]

Im not even the one that noticed this issue. Couple different people at differnt times would ask what this strange odor was from the car when i would park or drop them off after driving. Theres a burning smell, im hoping its just the radiator...or hopefully its just normal for a 92 ES300..... but there is a burning smell.... and im not sure if its brakes or what but its kinda bad. could i have an exhuast leak? i dunno where to take it.... private party mechanic or lexus.

:(

[LexKid630]

Does it smell like burning rubber?plastic? wood? There are a lot of different smells that could be coming from many different places...Also where does it seem to be coming from on the car? Front? Back? Can you smell it anywhere on the inside?

[cruznroadking]

I've had a plastic bag stick on the exhaust & it smelled pretty bad until I scraped it off with a putty knife.

[Alizerothree]

well it smells fron underneathe the car i think.... my brakes squeak really bad in the rear so i dunno if thats the issue but i notice alot of heat coming from under the car/transmission area. :|

[ford212.809]

Mine used to have that smell you are talking about. I had a rear main seal leaking. Had it repaired and the smell dissappeared.

Also, it could be the catalytic converter if the smell comes from the exhaust pipe. ;)

[branshew]

You're going to do a little more in the explanation department before we can help you. It's like going to the doctor and telling him that your head hurts. It doesn't tell him much - sharp pain, dull pain, front, back, did you hit it on something, etc... It's kind of hard to make a diagnosis w/o more info so don't make us pull it out of you.

Back to Lexkid's question - what does it smell like? There are many possible smells and all could be caused by something different. Are you noticing any smoke/steam? Can you smell it when the car is still cold, or only after it warms up? Are you losing oil, coolant, etc?