My son's 1994 850 na manual car is giving off the occasional burnt rubber or "brake fluid on hot engine part" smell. I bought the car a year ago and knew the clutch was near its end but it still shifts well with first and reverse being a little rough. Could the smell be the clutch disk going completely bad? I have checked under the hood and on the driveway and I dontbsee any fluids so I'm stumped. The car runs super and im debating on spending the money on the clutch repair if the smell is a separate issue. Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks

Maybe jack the car up and check for dragging brakes. That could cause a burnt smell also. A calper could be sticking. If the clutch is slipping you can usually detect it by giving it some gas in high gear while going up a hill. If the rpms go up but the speed doesn't the clutch is slipping. Usually you can't see it in low gear unless it's really bad.

Wow, great suggestion. The car has had a slight "grabbing" of the brakes for some time but a recent state inspection said no issues other than the rear pads needing attention this year. The test drive yesterday I did notice the feel of the brakes grabbing as the wheel rotated. It was something I attributed to the PO using aftermarket rotors and pads and assumed they were warped. But yesterday the brakes grabbed harder than usual and shortly afterwards the smell appeared.

Is there any way to inspect the issue when I have the smell ohervthan sniffing all four rotors?

After driving a while you may be able to just feel the temperature of the wheels with your hand. The dragging one may feel hotter. A laser temp reader would work really well in this situation. They're not very expensive at all.

I think your car has an external slave, check it to make sure it is not leaking on the down pipe.

The clutch will only smell if it is slipping, and you would notice that real fast.

Check the clutch pedal travel on engagement. If it is close to the top, then your clutch is getting thin.

Klaus
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Did you do your Random Act of Kindness today?

Thin clutch, absolutely. I believe I do have an external clutch slave because there is a screeching sound that goes away when I place my hand on what I believe is the slave. The sound also goes away when the clutch is ngaed. I noticed the smell only a short while when taking it fo a 20 minute id today. This is the car my on uses at college and he brough it back this week when he noticed the smell. H ls sais the steering wheel shakes once in a while around 40+ mph. Not sure if it is a tire issue or related to the smell. I just put two new tires up font and they could be improperly balanced. Again, the steering wheel vibration seems unrelated but I can't replicate the vibration.

Time for a new clutch and flywheel shave. It's not much more to put in a new RMS, so do that also.

Hmmm, son in college with a car. I wonder why the clutch is worn?

Klaus
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Did you do your Random Act of Kindness today?

Wish I could blame him but his old man wasvto cheap to find him a car with a good clutch:)

I'll poke arnd to see if he slave is leaking and postvwhat I find. Thanks Klaus

Seems like the drivers side front caliper ismthe culprit. That would explain why the smell was coming up front on the side of the trans. I guess picking up a new caliper is in order. I would think the rotor is going to need attention. Anyone feel after market calipers are the waybto go or stick with OEM?

The issue was in fact a very bad caliper. I went with OEM and no more issues. Thanks for the suggestion folks.