I hope I'm posting this in the right area. A couple of days ago, I noticed a faint hot smell, something close to what you would smell turning on a hair dryer (not a sulfuric smell). This would only be when I come up to a stop and the smell dissipates after a few seconds. This makes tracing the smell quite difficult. However, I did notice what looks like traces of battery acid right near the rectangular caps. I'm going to check my alternator output when I get out of work tomorrow morning, but is it possible it can be the battery itself? There are no check engine lights. Also, if anyone experienced this issue and can maybe point out something I'm overlooking, it would be greatly appreciated.

Hello,
Do you know how old the battery is to begin with? Does this 'smell' smell like wires possibly melting? Maybe something is making contact against a hot surface where it shouldn't be. It's been a while since I've been on here but aren't the camshaft position sensor wires a trouble area for melting/getting brittle because of heat? Have you heard any squealing/shrieking leading up to this smell recently? Check the accessory belts for abnormal wear to help rule out an accessory bearing starting to seize. Hope you find your problem and that it's not a PITA.

Jes

Well, I looked over all the wiring and everything checked out. I even wire-tied some harness sections that seemed too close to the egr tube. Ended up being a damn plastic bag that melted onto my exhaust. lol. Go figure. It's near the rear wheel, so I'm not too worried about it, but I've been trying to burn it off by driving a bit harder, since I can't seem to scrape it off. On the bright side, I did manage to find that my oil pressure sensor was on its way out. Oil all over the back of the block, firewall, and cross member, but nowhere above the sensor. Looked like it started leaking and it was about to pop. THAT would have been a mess.

Glad you got the smell sorted out and that it wasn't something costly. The oil leak though I would get taken care of before I do anymore hard driving. Well if it's bad I would do any driving at all until it was fixed.

Jesse

I already replaced the sensor. I've had one oil pressure sensor go on me and I lost a good amount of oil cause it blew on the highway. So when I saw that it started to leak, I immediately replaced it. Plus, I'm just keeping this car going while I work on my '99. My DD just has too much rot to put too much money on it.

Well glad you got it taken care of. Sounds like you're on top of it. And about the rot, some just aren't worth saving. So the setup you have seems sound while you get your main car to where you want it. Good luck with all the repairs/modifications.

Jesse