Horrendous Smell from engine bay.

[12valveZach]

Hey TDR folks, reaching out here with a strange issue. I could preface this with a thousand details, but the long and short of it is I've been experiencing a terrible smell from my engine bay, smells like burning rubber/slightly electronic. It gives me a horrible headache and kind of makes my tongue feel funny...

It had been doing this intermittently and my alternator recently died. I thought that was the problem and cause of the smell, but it still persists intermittently after replacing the alt. While removing my alternator I felt like my tensioner was under much more tension that normal..as I had to get a helper to put the belt on while I used both hands on my 1/2in breaker bar. Usually I can do it by myself. I'm suspicious that maybe it malfunctioned and is creating too much tension and its possibly my serp belt making the smell?? Or possibly the excess force on the alternator pulley is causing something to malfunction internally.

Any input is awesome. I'll post some pics of my old alternator with some suspect wear that may be indicative of whats happening....

TIA
Z

 

[Ozymandias]

To much tension gives you a lot of headaches, it's not only the Alternator pulley - it's all of them that go bad except for the crank.

Double check the routing of the belt, you might have it on the wrong way, that's possible.

 

[Chief USA]

Hey TDR folks, reaching out here with a strange issue. I could preface this with a thousand details, but the long and short of it is I've been experiencing a terrible smell from my engine bay, smells like burning rubber/slightly electronic. It gives me a horrible headache and kind of makes my tongue feel funny...

It had been doing this intermittently and my alternator recently died. I thought that was the problem and cause of the smell, but it still persists intermittently after replacing the alt. While removing my alternator I felt like my tensioner was under much more tension that normal..as I had to get a helper to put the belt on while I used both hands on my 1/2in breaker bar. Usually I can do it by myself. I'm suspicious that maybe it malfunctioned and is creating too much tension and its possibly my serp belt making the smell?? Or possibly the excess force on the alternator pulley is causing something to malfunction internally.

Any input is awesome. I'll post some pics of my old alternator with some suspect wear that may be indicative of whats happening....

TIA
Z

Do you own any cats or park your truck where there are cats??? That 1,500 lb. chunk of iron under the hood holds heat for a LONG time and kitty cats just love to get up on top of the engine and spend the night to keep warm. They also mark their territory too. Living on a farm with lots of cats has taught me that lesson. I put something like a piece of firewood or balled up feed bags under the hood when I get a cat that does that. I had one that pulled the vaccum line off of the pump trying to get up on top of the engine to get warm.

 

[12valveZach]

To much tension gives you a lot of headaches, it's not only the Alternator pulley - it's all of them that go bad except for the crank.

Double check the routing of the belt, you might have it on the wrong way, that's possible.

Thanks! I checked the routing...I'll double check tomorrow....I mean literal headaches! and emotional ones too....

 

[12valveZach]

Do you own any cats or park your truck where there are cats??? That 1,500 lb. chunk of iron under the hood holds heat for a LONG time and kitty cats just love to get up on top of the engine and spend the night to keep warm. They also mark their territory too. Living on a farm with lots of cats has taught me that lesson. I put something like a piece of firewood or balled up feed bags under the hood when I get a cat that does that. I had one that pulled the vaccum line off of the pump trying to get up on top of the engine to get warm.

No cats here...just a bunch of lazy dogs!

 

[Timd32]

Belt should be a one person job, of course a helper is always nice.

Something sounds off there.

I second the verify belt routing, and physical part number/condition of belt, and make sure it's not a battery overheating if you are having alternator issues, depending on the year lots of known wiring issues. What year?

Mechanically it's a pretty simple belt set up.

AC compressor locking up? Could try a shorter belt with non AC routing.

Good luck with your repair.

 

[NIsaacs]

and make sure it's not a battery overheating if you are having alternator issues,

This is probably the smell, you have one or both batteries bad. Be careful with them if they are shorted out and venting gas, a spark can blow them up.

 

[Tuesdak]

Is the tensioner froze up? Verify the correct belt size. Then does the tensioner move freely with just spring tension? No: replace it ASAP! Also spin each pulley by hand to feel for rough or loose bearings. This problem only slips belts or burns out bearings. You would hear the belt slip screech. Fix it, but, not the problem you asked about.

Batteries: check for 12.6V. Lower like 12.3V means you pull them and have them tested. Lower than 12.0V you already fried an alternator on bad batteries. You have someone else test batteries that knows em when they “smell bad” because the risk of one exploding is high. Any chance they froze?

 

[12valveZach]

Thanks for all the great response's folks...Verified belt routing...def the correct belt, I replaced everything when I bought the truck and did my KDP...ran flawlessly for about 50k. Replaced my batteries about 3 years ago, I'm suspecting it has something to do with my batteries. I just made new battery cables as well with military style clamps. Still reading 14+ on my dash, but resting batteries are 12.3 also there's some questionable black goo coming out of one of the batteries around the caps..so they're coming out now to get tested... thanks again everyone! updates to come.

 

[Ozymandias]

Get new batterys, if one is pucking out its belly then its dead, no question.

 

[12valveZach]

Is the tensioner froze up? Verify the correct belt size. Then does the tensioner move freely with just spring tension? No: replace it ASAP! Also spin each pulley by hand to feel for rough or loose bearings. This problem only slips belts or burns out bearings. You would hear the belt slip screech. Fix it, but, not the problem you asked about.

Batteries: check for 12.6V. Lower like 12.3V means you pull them and have them tested. Lower than 12.0V you already fried an alternator on bad batteries. You have someone else test batteries that knows em when they “smell bad” because the risk of one exploding is high. Any chance they froze?

Get new batterys, if one is pucking out its belly then its dead, no question.

yup! That’s the plan..guess I overlooked it because I trusted the interstate brand too much...prob not dropping that much dough again. They have a hard life for sure. But I’ll update when I replace. Thanks for the help.

 

[12valveZach]

Right on team! New batteries totally solved the problem. Took my interstates to Napa and they tested them...both shot. Went down to wally world and replaced with Everstart group 27...no more smell! Thanks for all the help.

 

[DavidC]

How much $ for the Everstarts ? Warranty ?

 

[Joe Mc]

Still need to resolve too tight tensioner. Like mentioned prior, check all pulleys. Suggest removing belt, then using a mechanic's stethoscope (¼ or ⅜ long extension if no stethoscope) and rest on non-moving area as you turn by hand each pulley. If any, I mean any, rumble replace. Not sure but there may be a torque value for tensioner resistance in FSM? If that's too tight you're gonna eventually ruin a bearing, of course this will always (not) happen as you're pulling up to your garage...