S4 Hot / Burning smell

pierreluigi88 · Jan 21, 2017

Ok, so the last few times I've driven the car I've been stuck in a fair bit of crawling traffic, and I've noticed quite a strong smell coming through the vents, and when I get out of the car it's quite strong too. It's not an acrid plastic / oil burning type smell, it's more what you get when you buy a new toaster or oven and use it for the first time and you're burning off all the manufacturing residues.

The only other way I can describe it is many years ago I had one of those nitro radio controlled cars - it's exactly the smell they make.

Now I know I'm answering my own question - it's a new car and the engine is covered in those residues, but I've put 1500 miles on it now so I would have thought it should have been burnt off. I checked at the time last night and coolant was at 90deg and oil at 99deg.

Has anyone else noticed anything like this with theirs?

Jcbmally · Jan 21, 2017

pierreluigi88 said:
Ok, so the last few times I've driven the car I've been stuck in a fair bit of crawling traffic, and I've noticed quite a strong smell coming through the vents, and when I get out of the car it's quite strong too. It's not an acrid plastic / oil burning type smell, it's more what you get when you buy a new toaster or oven and use it for the first time and you're burning off all the manufacturing residues.

The only other way I can describe it is many years ago I had one of those nitro radio controlled cars - it's exactly the smell they make.

Now I know I'm answering my own question - it's a new car and the engine is covered in those residues, but I've put 1500 miles on it now so I would have thought it should have been burnt off. I checked at the time last night and coolant was at 90deg and oil at 99deg.

Has anyone else noticed anything like this with theirs?

I suppose it would depend on how hot the engine, exhaust etc has actually got within the 1500miles fella. Coolant and oil temp you have stated is normal operating temperature.
On the wife's A1 TFSI it had a strange smell even at 3000 miles, when I queried it with Audi Tech they stated the above. The A1 does a lot of stop/start short journeys so doesn't get really really hot.
Drive it hard in the lower gears to get it hotter than normal and it should clear it mate, if not then a trip to the dealer for answers.

Dippy · Jan 21, 2017

I would advise that you take it to a dealer to check. Remember that this is a new engine design and being a hot V that area around the turbo will be getting really hot. All it might take is that on your car the routing of a cable or pipe is slightly different (perhaps something has become dislodged from a clip) and so something is starting to get scorched. Whilst we hope that Audi gets designs 100% right first time, the history of TSBs and recalls tells us that its not true, and I guess that many of the design problems only get found out once they start to appear on customer cars.

ub7rm · Jan 21, 2017

It probably took till about 10k miles for all the strange smells to stop when my car was new. As said, there are only a few times all components of the car reach max temp. That said, for peace of mind take it in and there is a log of your concern.

pierreluigi88 · Jan 21, 2017

Thanks everyone - I think I'll take it in just to be on the safe side.

Dmrqwq · Jan 21, 2017

Got the same on my car, it stinks when I park it- at least if I forget where I parked I can sniff it out! Put it down to being new but if you're concerned take it in, won't cost you anything and you'll be reassured at the least.

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Jcbmally · Jan 21, 2017

Dmrqwq said:
Got the same on my car, it stinks when I park it- at least if I forget where I parked I can sniff it out! Put it down to being new but if you're concerned take it in, won't cost you anything and you'll be reassured at the least.

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Lol, in a carpark I use the remote to flash the light but you smell it out !!!!. You may have super powers fella.

Dmrqwq · Jan 21, 2017

A person with no sense of smell could locate my car- it's similar to the smell of your newborn baby, you can try and ignore it but eventually it will hit your nose!

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cuke2u · Jan 21, 2017

The only smell my car gives off is the new car smell. Had a diesel as a loaner and that stank when cold starting...

Thundercliffe81 · Jan 21, 2017

pierreluigi88 said:
Ok, so the last few times I've driven the car I've been stuck in a fair bit of crawling traffic, and I've noticed quite a strong smell coming through the vents, and when I get out of the car it's quite strong too. It's not an acrid plastic / oil burning type smell, it's more what you get when you buy a new toaster or oven and use it for the first time and you're burning off all the manufacturing residues.

The only other way I can describe it is many years ago I had one of those nitro radio controlled cars - it's exactly the smell they make.

Now I know I'm answering my own question - it's a new car and the engine is covered in those residues, but I've put 1500 miles on it now so I would have thought it should have been burnt off. I checked at the time last night and coolant was at 90deg and oil at 99deg.

Has anyone else noticed anything like this with theirs?

Same. No biggy. I've had it up past 104 and it comes down nicely if you back off.

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pierreluigi88 · Jan 21, 2017

It's good to know that a couple of other S4s are doing the same. Next time it does it I'll see if I can take it in and will post back.

THQuattro · Jan 21, 2017

S for smelly.My B6 S4 and the B7 3.2 do smell when stuck in bad traffic so it could be just because its new.

RAF_S7 · Jan 22, 2017

Had the exact same on my S7 when it was new. Took about 2000 miles before the smell stopped.

It was the exhaust system.

:racer:

Phil73 · Jan 22, 2017

Think what you are smelling might be similar to the Diesel engines cats, they burn the fuel off in cycles for the dpf, and this continues even when the car is switched off, anyone read the manual..........

Dmrqwq · Jan 22, 2017

Hope I haven't got a dpf in my 3.0l petrol!

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Phil73 · Jan 22, 2017

That's why I said "might be similar"

cuke2u · Jan 22, 2017

Petrol engines do not burn off fuel in the same way as diesels to clean a dpf..

Ytterligare · Jan 23, 2017

Pheew...I thought it was only mine !
My car has only about 400 miles, but at least three times after parking it I could smell something burning "acid", I even opened the bonnet once to check out if everything was fine.
Despite someone else said, I don't think mine is due to the exhaust system, since it was clearly coming from the engine zone...my perception is that maybe it's due to some acrylic glue or insulating material which has a "burn-in" period and hopefully it will stop smelling like that in time...
A.

pierreluigi88 · Jan 23, 2017

Ytterligare said:
Pheew...I thought it was only mine !
My car has only about 400 miles, but at least three times after parking it I could smell something burning "acid", I even opened the bonnet once to check out if everything was fine.
Despite someone else said, I don't think mine is due to the exhaust system, since it was clearly coming from the engine zone...my perception is that maybe it's due to some acrylic glue or insulating material which has a "burn-in" period and hopefully it will stop smelling like that in time...
A.

It's looking more and more like this is what some of them do. I feel reassured now that my car isn't going to blow up next time I floor it!

CJP80 · Mar 30, 2017

Any more updates on this? We have two young kids and the smell is so bad my wife wants to reject the car!

cuke2u · Mar 30, 2017

Have you taken the car into a dealership to have it looked at? I think you'll find the conclusion here was that its a new car smell and will disappear once any contaminants have burned off...

pierreluigi88 · Mar 30, 2017

CJP80 said:
Any more updates on this? We have two young kids and the smell is so bad my wife wants to reject the car!

It's definitely a lot better than it was. It still smells a little bit when the oil temperature gets above 100deg, but whereas it was really intrusive in the cabin, that's not the case any more.

I'd also say that after 3,300 miles, my engine is still bedding in so I would expect the situation to improve further. I say this because others reported fuel economy increases after 1000ish miles, but only in the last few trips to work have I seen 30+ mpg whereas a couple of weeks ago I couldn't get more than 25mpg on a mixed run.

YMMV, quite literally!

S4 Hot / Burning smell

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