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slight burning smell on hills?

Discussion in 'Prius c Main Forum' started by decibel08, Feb 3, 2014.

  1. decibel08

    decibel08 Junior Member

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    I live in San Francisco, so hills are a part of driving unfortunately. I've put almost 3K miles on my Prius C and there have been times when I've gone up a long hill that required spending a lot of time in the red POWER zone. For example climbing up into the Berkeley hills, but always on a less steep switchback route. Quite often by the time I get to the top I can smell something like a mild burning coming from the engine. I imagine this is a normal reaction from the motor to being used to get up a long hill, but it is unnerving anyway. Anyone else experience this smell on the regular? It is noticeable inside the cabin also, but more pronounced over the hood.
     
    #1 decibel08, Feb 3, 2014
  2. Maria Ku

    Maria Ku Junior Member

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    we live in Oakland hills and had our PriusC for a full year now. Yes, we must drive in the red for awhile every time to go home and many time to go around - our block is 45% incline. We never experienced any smell though. Maybe you should check it.
     
    #2 Maria Ku, Feb 3, 2014
  3. Deleted member 111882

    Deleted member 111882 Guest

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    I've driven up Route 302 in an area of NH west of Mount Washington and I leveled out at 30 mph at full red PWR and 3000 rpm going uphill. A few sections were 40%. The only "smell" that I recall is just having the heat blasting and it was a dry hot air, slightly pungent. Same thing happens on even small hills with 2500 rpm or more. I'm honestly not sure if that's typical for new cars.
     
    #3 Deleted member 111882, Feb 4, 2014
  4. fuzzy1

    fuzzy1 Senior Member

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    The first few times any engine and exhaust system gets really hot, it will drive off some of the more volatile components of the materials and coatings. The dealer specifically warned me about this on the new Subaru we picked up a couple months ago. I've smelled it on my past cars, a long-ago housemate even forced it on a test drive of a new car he didn't end up buying.

    Though at 3k miles, you should mostly be past this, unless the hills are quite out of the ordinary compared to what the car has previously experienced.
     
    #4 fuzzy1, Feb 4, 2014
  5. Ashley7

    Ashley7 Active Member

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    #5 Ashley7, Feb 4, 2014
    TwitchOtyolf likes this.
  6. vernon birdman

    vernon birdman Active Member

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    I am close to 45 k kilometers and I also get it occasionally when going up some of our local mountains
     
    #6 vernon birdman, Feb 7, 2014
  7. decibel08

    decibel08 Junior Member

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    Well, I am relieved to hear it happens to others too. I treat this C very well - rarely going in to the red and taking less steep routes when possible. So perhaps I've been babying it enough that it is still working out some of those chemical coating smells Fuzzy described. Or maybe it will always be this way.

    thanks for the feedback!
     
    #7 decibel08, Feb 7, 2014
  8. ChinchillaGirl

    ChinchillaGirl OrcaCar

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    I have 30k miles and I get it at the top of one particular hill, only once in a while...I had hoped it was someone else's car burning brakes going the other way, but I will pay more attention now to the circumstances.
     
    #8 ChinchillaGirl, Feb 8, 2014
  9. B2FiNiTY

    B2FiNiTY Active Member

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    Hi fellow bay area prius c!

    I experience this sensation once in awhile now that I'm at the 11k mile range. Once in awhile it will happen but the smell will go away faster.

    It's pretty much normal for every car that I've bought new.

    Basically it's just a natural break in process for all the rubber, plastic and other materials in the car due to heat.
     
    #9 B2FiNiTY, Feb 9, 2014
  10. vernon birdman

    vernon birdman Active Member

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    As in the case of a fart, I just breath deeper so the smell goes away faster.
     
    #10 vernon birdman, Feb 9, 2014
    ChinchillaGirl and B2FiNiTY like this.
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