Faint burning smell when parked in the garage

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Dmax

Dmax

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Have you got a front brake dragging? A bit of a drag might heat it and the rotor up enough to cause a problem.
Several ways to check.
1)if you have one of the inexpensive laser thermometers (Harbor Freight, about $25), check the hubs/rotors after you get home. Takes 30 seconds to do both if you're quick. You can also use it to check the brakes/after a tow in the hills with a heavy trailer. On a cross country trip, you can check all 4 hubs and tires as well as your trailer in a couple minutes. Take note of the temps and you'll be able to recognize a problem caused by a slow leak or hot brake or bearing before it becomes major. Recommended.
2) place the BACK of your hand against the hub. If one is noticeably hotter, it may be dragging. (Not recommended)
3) jack the wheels up and spin them by hand. You may be able to feel a difference in drag, or hear something dragging on the rotor, wheel or tire. If you are CERTAIN your jack/stand is solid, place your hands on the tire at 3 and 9 o'clock and try to shake the wheel. If the bearing is bad enough, you will feel it. DO NOT shake top/bottom because if it falls off the jack, your bottom hand may be trapped.
love the insight. However what if one doesn’t have the ability to do what you’re saying. Would you call the dealer and just ask them to check brakes for dragging? My breaks seem to squeak a lot after it rains for days until it stops. My garage always has a strange smell after decent drives. It’s not coming from the engine itself so the brakes seem logical. I’m not a person who uses brakes aggressively. So it’s confusing. This is foreign to me so any insight appreciated.
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KingsPoint75

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love the insight. However what if one doesn’t have the ability to do what you’re saying. Would you call the dealer and just ask them to check brakes for dragging? My breaks seem to squeak a lot after it rains for days until it stops. My garage always has a strange smell after decent drives. It’s not coming from the engine itself so the brakes seem logical. I’m not a person who uses brakes aggressively. So it’s confusing. This is foreign to me so any insight appreciated.
Look at your rotors by looking between the spokes on your wheels. The rotor disk is visible. If the rotors are rusty, they can squeak. If the rotors are shiny, less likely to squeak. When you drive, it burnishes the rust off the rotors. If it sits in humid conditions, the rotors may rust. Take her for a spin.
 
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Look at your rotors by looking between the spokes on your wheels. The rotor disk is visible. If the rotors are rusty, they can squeak. If the rotors are shiny, less likely to squeak. When you drive, it burnishes the rust off the rotors. If it sits in humid conditions, the rotors may rust. Take her for a spin.
Gotya. Live in CO. It’s pretty dry here. I’ll keep an eye out. Thanks
 

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Look at your rotors by looking between the spokes on your wheels. The rotor disk is visible. If the rotors are rusty, they can squeak. If the rotors are shiny, less likely to squeak. When you drive, it burnishes the rust off the rotors. If it sits in humid conditions, the rotors may rust. Take her for a spin.
I've noticed that only a few minutes after rinsing my Corvette wheels that I begin to see something that looks like rust forming on the rotors.
 
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Look at your rotors by looking between the spokes on your wheels. The rotor disk is visible. If the rotors are rusty, they can squeak. If the rotors are shiny, less likely to squeak. When you drive, it burnishes the rust off the rotors. If it sits in humid conditions, the rotors may rust. Take her for a spin.
The rotors look good. No rust. Any other thoughts. Thanks bud.
 


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The rotors look good. No rust. Any other thoughts. Thanks bud.
Hi Dmax,

I recommend you stand on the brakes, accelerate and repeat two more times and then let the brakes cool without touching the brake pedal. I suspect you glazed the pads. This seems to be something in the selected compound of the brakes to cause some anomalies with the brakes.

May not fix your concern, but won't hurt to try.

Best,
Phil Schilke
Ranger Vehicle Engineering
Ford Motor Co. Retired
 
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Dmax

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Hi Dmax,

I recommend you stand on the brakes, accelerate and repeat two more times and then let the brakes cool without touching the brake pedal. I suspect you glazed the pads. This seems to be something in the selected compound of the brakes to cause some anomalies with the brakes.

May not fix your concern, but won't hurt to try.

Best,
Phil Schilke
Ranger Vehicle Engineering
Ford Motor Co. Retired
Thanks Phil! I’ll give it a try. Appreciate the ideas!
 

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Hi DMAX, Thanks for your post about that "faint burning smell". I have had that very same issue. I still have less than 1K and the rig has been a garage queen sitting for long periods inside. The winter has been brutal. I was very concerned that I had a bad electrical outlet or wire burning in the garage and checked everything. It has that "electrical" odor. I never gave the Ranger a thought as the culprit. Thanks for posting a similar experience. I now know to monitor the Ranger. Others posted about the brakes, but brakes have a very distinct "brake burn" smell and this smell is more "electrical" in odor, especially since the rig has been parked for quite some time. I hope others will also post to your thread what they have experienced and are able to problem solve. The dealership response was to "don't worry, if it catches fire and burns, your warranty will cover it and we can start a recall" and also "stay current on your homeowner fire insurance" (parked in the garage). Stay tuned. Safe Travels and Happy Trails.
 
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Hi DMAX, Thanks for your post about that "faint burning smell". I have had that very same issue. I still have less than 1K and the rig has been a garage queen sitting for long periods inside. The winter has been brutal. I was very concerned that I had a bad electrical outlet or wire burning in the garage and checked everything. It has that "electrical" odor. I never gave the Ranger a thought as the culprit. Thanks for posting a similar experience. I now know to monitor the Ranger. Others posted about the brakes, but brakes have a very distinct "brake burn" smell and this smell is more "electrical" in odor, especially since the rig has been parked for quite some time. I hope others will also post to your thread what they have experienced and are able to problem solve. The dealership response was to "don't worry, if it catches fire and burns, your warranty will cover it and we can start a recall" and also "stay current on your homeowner fire insurance" (parked in the garage). Stay tuned. Safe Travels and Happy Trails.
That's exactly what I've been told. It's faint once it sits but distinct. I'd rather be proactive then reactive. Going to try out the breaks today and see it that's the issue. Which maybe it is. Winters in CO can coat the breaks with all sorts of crap...CHeers
 

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Has anyone dealt with a faint burnt smell after parking the truck in the garage after a drive. I’m not sure how to diagnose this or what to do. I’ve had the smell since the car was new. I have 1600 miles on it and wonder if it’s some new smell that will burn off. Taking it to the dealer could be tough in that I can’t smell it unless truck is parked after a drive in the garage. The dealer has a huge indoors car bay that I doubt they’ll be able to smell. I put my nose in the front grates and smell something off but if I lift hood I get nothing. My guess is something under the truck but this feels like a needle in a haystack kinda find. Any ideas or suggestions appreciated. Thanks

DMAX
It's new vehicle break -in smell.. of engine components an body/plastics etc. All new vehicles have this not a burning smell! Get ur 1st break in oil change done soon (b4 2k mis I did mine) get good "full synthetic" oil in her an give good wash after. Ur golden ..enjoy ur new truck! They are amazing.
 
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It's new vehicle break -in smell.. of engine components an body/plastics etc. All new vehicles have this not a burning smell! Get ur 1st break in oil change done soon (b4 2k mis I did mine) get good "full synthetic" oil in her an give good wash after. Ur golden ..enjoy ur new truck! They are amazing.
Replaced the oil on my own already bud. Had the original burning smell. Keep my car kept pristine :) This is something different. Wish it was that easy. Tried Phil’s idea but rotors look fine. Will keep investigating.
 

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Hey Dmax, I too had a faint burning smell which concerned me because my calipers froze up at 19k miles and killed my brake pads. That's all been fixed BUT I still smell it. Yesterday after cleaning my truck I noticed my aftermarket exhaust tip had it's finish half melted off. I think my smell was a mixture of all the road salt and sand plus the finish melting off of my tip... The exhaust gets veeeerry hot on these.
 
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Hey Dmax, I too had a faint burning smell which concerned me because my calipers froze up at 19k miles and killed my brake pads. That's all been fixed BUT I still smell it. Yesterday after cleaning my truck I noticed my aftermarket exhaust tip had it's finish half melted off. I think my smell was a mixture of all the road salt and sand plus the finish melting off of my tip... The exhaust gets veeeerry hot on these.
Which exhaust do you have. I just added the MagnaFlow black exhaust this week. Haven’t driven much last few days. Didn’t notice the smell as much.
 

nny_ranger

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Mines just the stock exhaust but I have the go rhino exhaust tip on it to hide the ugly stock pipe. I figure it is either that thing or just the sand that got built up on the exhaust. I drive on very heavily sanded and salted roads daily during winter.
 

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A new Ranger merged in front of me on the highway a couple weeks ago. It was blowing blue smoke out the tail pipe for a couple miles. I was shocked. Well a couple weeks and 1,000 miles later my truck started emitting a burning oil smell on start up which it never did from new. This started at around 5,500 miles. In addition, I have the chrome package and love the chrome exhaust tip. So much that I make sure I wipe it off after I wash the truck. The tip was always clean. However since this oil smell started I am seeing black crap on it. The truck is going into the dealer tomorrow because of a rear defroster and trailer wiring issues. Thinking I am not paranoid about the oil smell and dirty exhaust tip and that something is going on with my truck ? I will let u know what the dealer says. G.B.
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