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I NEED SOMEONES HELP!!!

1092 Views 7 Replies 5 Participants Last post by  AccOrDZteCh, 
C
alright, heres the story. I'm drivin to my friends house about four days ago and i notice this smell when im halfway there. It smells like burning plastic. So i get to my friends house and we look for anything plastic that might be melting or touching the headers. Nothing. So i have continued to drive my car up until today. Well, I finally have an idea what it might be. My friend and i thought that my car might be overheating. Now the thing is, is that my temp gauge is fucked up so i never actually know wht the correct reading is, and my fans kick in. I have no leaks in the radiator (just changed like 6 months ago) and i have some fluid in the resevoir. How can i tell if my car is overheating and what should i do to fix it. Im worried that if i take it to a shop that im gonna get screwed because, "somethings wrong and is gona cost about 300 to fix". I need help. Any insight is extremely appreciated.
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chirpin_accord said:
alright, heres the story. I'm drivin to my friends house about four days ago and i notice this smell when im halfway there. It smells like burning plastic. So i get to my friends house and we look for anything plastic that might be melting or touching the headers. Nothing. So i have continued to drive my car up until today. Well, I finally have an idea what it might be. My friend and i thought that my car might be overheating. Now the thing is, is that my temp gauge is fucked up so i never actually know wht the correct reading is, and my fans kick in. I have no leaks in the radiator (just changed like 6 months ago) and i have some fluid in the resevoir. How can i tell if my car is overheating and what should i do to fix it. Im worried that if i take it to a shop that im gonna get screwed because, "somethings wrong and is gona cost about 300 to fix". I need help. Any insight is extremely appreciated.
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First of all, that's very irresponsible to be driving around if your temp guage is fucked up... get it fixed. The temp guage can be the difference in being stranded on the road or being able to catch a potential problem in time.

Have someone check the Thermostat. If that's busted, no matter how much fluids you have, you will over heat if the thermostat is busted in the closed position.

As for the "melted plastic smell".. I have no idea.
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yeah i know ive been meaning to get around to having that fixed, but ive been goin through some shit and havent had the time.

wouldnt overheating smell like coolant? the last time my car overheated, the cap blew and all the fluid spilled into my engine bay. Thats when i replaced the radiator. And i remember that when it overheated it smelled like coolant not burning/melting plastic.
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Right, your probably smelling the coolant, but you did mention you smelled something like melting plastic on your first post. That's what you meant by it smelling like burnt plastic, right?? The coolant??:confused:
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Well I had a burning plastic smell and I looked at my exhaust pipe and noticed a grocery bag had melted on it. Not sayinng this could help but ya might wanna check for anything on the pipes. But yeah get the thermostat fixed asap.
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whatsup peeps. my and my friend just ran through every possibility and checked everything. Diagnosis: im not overheating. But i still smell that burning plastic smelland i still cant figure it out.
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i use to have a problem with some smell with my car but im not sure if i can describe it as burning plastic.

the smell went over after i re-filled my antifreeze. hope that helps.
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maybe u had air inside ur coolant system. that makes the thermostat go up, yet u have to replace that termostat. it should be replaced on every flush. as for the burning smell it can be a number of htings...the only time u will know is if ur in the engine when the car is on. it could be ur belts rubbing plastic or something on the exaust pipe. look for smoke comming from the engine...and try to follow that smell. when my radiator leaked it was a weird scent..maybe u may be leakin to.
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