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Burnt smell


SinNH

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On my 2000 the last two rides, I have been getting a burnt smell like overheated brake pads in stop and go traffic.

Went through the three rotors, all is fine and lubed, did not see anything amiss.And changed the fluid.

When out into stop/go traffic as soon as the smell started I jumped off felt the rotors,all were good, and stuck my nose everywhere, no smell. Out on the open roads at 55 or so, pull over quick and go smelling , nothing. I am assuming it is heat related so I go home and with a box fan in front get the oil temp up to SEVEN bars, the highest it has ever been in 90k is six. No smell.Chit. Removed the body work and tank looking for chaffed wires and sticking my beak searching for a residual smell. Nothing.

I have ruled out brakes.

Any components of ours give some hints before cooking?

Any ideas ?

Thanks in advance :thumbsup:

Steve

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Evening Steve

 

Difficult to smell it from here but you might try looking at the top of the catalytic converter to look for signs of oil on the cat & rear upper part of exhaust (Usual place I find something smelling that isn’t obvious otherwise)

 

You might also drain your air box as sometimes the air box will get oil in it then seep out. Drain cock is on left rear bottom of lower air box.

 

Otherwise check your alternator belt for condition & slippage.

 

Check for rubber on front exhaust cross over pipe.

 

Look at battery for maybe overheating & outgassing.

 

Check for heavy bug buildup on front of cylinder heads.

 

Check for big greasy bugs on the oil cooler.

 

OR, maybe you just got a tank full of gasoline that produces obnoxious fumes when burnt (it happens from time to time)

 

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This is just a shot in the dark but a couple of years ago while on a longer ride I noticed my '99 RT producing a distinctive 'burning' smell. It turned out that it was my headlight switch - it completely fired itself somehow. Good luck. Hope that whatever it is it's a cheap fix.

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40 degree days are not unusual here in Western Australia in summer. I've noticed a "hot", or "overheated" or "burnt" smell after sitting at lights or stop signs in the heat. It's almost as if the heat builds up and air gets trapped under the tupperware and then, when you finally take off, it gets pushed upwards and backwards by airflow. Smells hot for a little while (even my wife has commented)-- say a couple of seconds, but disappears quickly once moving. It doesn't appear to have made any difference whatsoever to the bike. I think hot stuff just smells ... well, hot!

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Thanks all !! :thumbsup:

All the suggestions were great, the only thing I found wrong is that one rib on the alt belt was gone (38k), picking one up today. Don't think it was that because rubber has a certain smell, but who knows. Clutch, doesn't slip at high medium rpm and then wot, actually machine runs great. Fuel, I have thought about that as I did notice once in traffic the idle was about 900 and searching a bit not the pretty much steady 1150 that it usually has. Exhaust system was clean as usual, that was the first thing I looked at when I removed the left side boywork, hoping for a corpse or something.

I am going to replace the alt belt, put in fresh( whatever that means)fuel, and run it in the "Ugly" mode--no bodywork for few hundred or so and see what comes up.

This is the time of year I like to take 3/4 day road trips at the drop of a hat but a stink like this is hard to blow off and pretend it isn't there,, o well,, the R100RT is probably smiling and saying "It's about time". But something about the R100 suspension,,,

thanks :)

If anybody thinks of anything else I'd like to hear about it.

 

Steve

 

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DD 430

 

That's the thing that is bugging me, it smells electrical (that's my line). I have relays in the high, low beam and the horn circuits. Intermittant electrical troubleshooting is a PIA.

thx

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I'm going to say clutch. You are burning out your clutch. I say that because I burned a good part of mine on the hills on Highway 4 last week.

On my 800ST once I had a horrible burning smell and smoke. For many miles I couldn't figure it out. Then I realized the fan shroud, a $10 piece of plastic, had fallen down onto the pipes, and was melting.

Ugh.

Did you get any WD40 on your pipes, or drip any oil, anything that might be almost impossible to see, but would burn for a while?

dc

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I'm going to say clutch. You are burning out your clutch. I say that because I burned a good part of mine on the hills on Highway 4 last week.

On my 800ST once I had a horrible burning smell and smoke. For many miles I couldn't figure it out. Then I realized the fan shroud, a $10 piece of plastic, had fallen down onto the pipes, and was melting.

Ugh.

Did you get any WD40 on your pipes, or drip any oil, anything that might be almost impossible to see, but would burn for a while?

dc

David,

thanks for the input. This smell I am trying to figure out has gone on, or off and on for about 300 miles, light lube as well as Never "Sleeze" goes away in 20 miles or so.

Clutch. Yes clutch failures, such as oil from a leaking rear main or weak spring or fibre too thin, etc in all the BMW clutches I have worked on always fail in mid-range or so and when wide open throttle (WOT)is applied--it causes the r's to climb unhindered--never when pulling away from a stop or at slow speed, similar to a four wheeled vehicle. So in my opinion after coming back from a three day ride when I noticed the smell first there had been as many max power applications with no hint of a clutch issue, but thanks for the suggestion. :thumbsup:

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Not the oil filler cap bottom seal leaking onto the head?

DunRTer, wish it was! But no it's not, I have replaced the o-ring a couple times, cause after a while they do leak.

thanks

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The symptoms are similar to the ones I experienced with my '04 RT. Looking back, I would occasionally get a whiff of something hot ( like hot oil, not so much an electrical part overheating ) when I came to a stop. This went on for at least two months before my clutch slipped for the first time. I don't know if the 1100's can migrate oil from the rear seal of the transmission down the clutch pushrod like the 1150's can, but that was the source of my smell.

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The symptoms are similar to the ones I experienced with my '04 RT. Looking back, I would occasionally get a whiff of something hot ( like hot oil, not so much an electrical part overheating ) when I came to a stop. This went on for at least two months before my clutch slipped for the first time. I don't know if the 1100's can migrate oil from the rear seal of the transmission down the clutch pushrod like the 1150's can, but that was the source of my smell.

realshelby, oh I am pretty sure that they can just like airheads. What is convenient about the airhead design is that you can look in on the oil pan "shelf" to see if the rear main is leaking. If that is what is coming about---I hope delays until about mid-October.

Thanks for the reply.

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The Clutch. You all that have been mentioning it got me nervous,so I pulled the starter to have a look, no weeping anywhere I can see and the fibre plate from eyeball calipers look within spec.

thx

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Yeeha! Stephen

I had a burnt smell problem once. Thought it was a bird stuck in the exhaust or something. Took forever to find it.

My rear shock was leaking and occasionally dripping on the cat.

Twas a crack in the preload line up where it attaches to the top of the shock. Had a kink in it and eventually cracked and seeped a little onto the hot pipes.

Good luck with yours.

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Sounds like the clutch to me. mine's doing the same thing. Is yours slipping? Go find a big hill and see if you can get the thing to slip (downshift from top gear and goose it). Mine will exhibit the burnt clutch smell for the next 10 - 20 minutes. It's confusing because you don't smell it at speed. Then you smell it at the next stop. It can be a bit elusive and you start thinking other stuff.

 

OTOH - I ran through some crud that dripped out of the rendering truck at work. It got kicked up on my exhaust and stunk like you wouldn't believe. Smelled like burnt dead fermented possum sh--. You got a rendering truck at work?

 

Anyway, if you can get it to slip, even just a little, that's prolly your answer. Good luck and be sure to let us know how it turns out.

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I had a burnt smell problem once. Thought it was a bird stuck in the exhaust or something. Took forever to find it.

My rear shock was leaking and occasionally dripping on the cat.

Twas a crack in the preload line up where it attaches to the top of the shock. Had a kink in it and eventually cracked and seeped a little onto the hot pipes.

Good luck with yours.

 

 

+1

 

Same here

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The Clutch. You all that have been mentioning it got me nervous,so I pulled the starter to have a look, no weeping anywhere I can see and the fibre plate from eyeball calipers look within spec.

thx

 

When I finally knew I had to tear mine down the clutch was to the point where in 5th or 6th gear cracking the throttle open would cause the rpms to flare up. Taking off from a stop with a heavy throttle and feathering the clutch like normal would slip badly also. Point of this is that when I took it apart the clutch disc measurement was only a very few thousands thinner than the new one, still well within spec. At first it didn't look like there was a problem with oil on it. There was no oil slung onto the housing around it. There would be no way to take the starter out and look in there to confirm the problem. There was just enough oil on there ( remember this is gear oil so it is thick ) to put a film of lubricant on the disc. You could wipe your finger across it and see it on your finger and it would leave a track thru the film on the disc. This was from oil seepage out of the REAR transmission seal. Not the engine main oil seal or transmission front seal ( input shaft ). This oil migrated down the pushrod tube and just enough would drip onto the disc over time to cause the problem. If you can remove the clutch actuation mechanism from the rear of the transmission and check that area it should be dry. If there is oil in there, it is a problem. I don't know about the 1100's so someone can correct me about the clutch mechanism if I am wrong.

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Thanks everyone, great board. :thumbsup:

It is not the clutch.

In the last two days riding in ugly mode, I have hammered it in 2nd,3rd and 4th from 3500 to 7000 at wot, up hills on straights even a couple of time feathering the front brake for more load.

Even a couple of wheelies in second.

Nary a slip.

What is more interesting is no smell.

Since tearing into it all I found was a bad Alt belt, now new, and I did a bit of balancing with the Carb stix.

I am going to close it back up and ride.

Steve

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  • 4 weeks later...

Well for those interested--- :grin:---I am 99% sure I found the culprit, and I wasn't even looking for it.

About 60 miles from my house coming home from a three day ride, I noticed no headlight reflection in the cars in from at stoplights.

Yep,,burnt H-4 socket--(negative)terminal,and a bit of the rubber "bellows" that waterproofs the headlight,it smells just like the stink I had.

I have run a 80/100 (with relays) for the 90K since I have owned it without any issues, but replaced with a 50/100 yesterday.

Thanks for the suggestions :thumbsup:

 

Steve

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When putting on driving lites, I noticed my left shark fin paint is peeling and it has gotten hot several times, pipes do get red hot.

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