Celica Forums General Discussion Engine and Performance funny smells?

When I first got my celi I had to learn to drive stick on it. A lot of times at stop lights I would give it too much gas and not let off the clutch enough causing the engine to rev up and slowly come down as I let off the clutch more. The car let off a smell like buring rubber for a second after, but I wasnt peeling the tires. Any ideas on what the smell was? a bad thing? will this cause any damage in the long run?

sorry for the noob question

thanks

barcomE

it was the clutch burning. typical for people learning stick. maybe your clutch life will be a tad shorter if you didn't fry it too much.

yeah I learned stick on my Celi too haha. the salesman gave me 15 min lesson. let's just say it was a rough ride home from the dealership lol. I didn't care. I wanted the 6spd.

Yeah you're riding the clutch causing excess wear, don't worry about it to much, I don't think it'll brake anything just cause your cluth to wear down quicker. If the smell gets real bad and you can since the cluth slipping then your clucth may already be fried. I did the same thing on my Celica too, learning to drive stick, but it gives you a reason to upgrade the clutch.

^^ haha good call on the upgrade

hep i had those smells and now i have no celi till wednesday due to its getting a new clutch put in (700 dollars total cost parts+labor)

yea i learned on my gts too. deff had smells int he begining. still do if tring to park up a hill, or in stop and go traffic up hill

Man I had so much smells in the first month of owning my GTS, I think the 1st week I had it, I saw clouds of blue/grey smoke coming out from under the hood, it was that bad, always happened moving from an incline. Which was like back in December. I would rev it up too much for fear of stalling, and that damn DBW is too sensitive, just press the gas a tad and it revs up so much. I still have a bit of problems on steep hills, sometimes I'm so afraid of stalling it, I give it extra gas and too slow at let the clutch out fully, it smokes. I'm still trying to coordinate letting go of the e-brake and moving forward on a hill, but haven't had enough practice. So far I've finally managed to keep it smell free and giving the clutch a break. I dunno, maybe the stock clutch heats up too fast, I was thinking of putting in a TRD performance clutch or Centerforce Dual Friction Clutch. Maybe those will be more forgiving.

Just practice driving a it a little bit more, no need for new clutches until it is slipping. Don't be in a hurry to accellerate on a hill, the car won't roll back that fast, You have like 1-2 seconds.

depends on the hill LOL. I live in SoCal, but I've taken my Celi to the hills of San Francisco. e-brake or die!!!

The easiest way of starting to drive when standing still on a hill (hey, that rhymes) is as follows:

1. Handbreak on.
2. With car in neutral, start it up.
3. Press the clutch all the way inn, shift into 1st, and rev up to about 2500-3000rmps (or more, depends on how steep the hill is)
4. SLOWLY release pressure on the clutch. When the clutch engages, you will feel the car trying to pull itself forward.
5. When you feel the clutch engage, release the handbreak and clutch simultanious in one smooth motion, and apply more throttle if neccesary.

If you're standing on a hill, in traffic, and you don't want to use the handbreak, pump the break pedal hard a few times before trying to engage gear again. This way, the breaks will stay on slightly longer before releasing all the way.

ok, i have an auto gts and i get these smell so is it the same thing, usually happens when driving real fast and then stopping, its happend since i got the car

If your car smells like burned plastic after driving like you stole it, that seems to be normal for toyota's Had quite a few of them now, and whenever I've driven like a total idiot, they've all smelled like burned plastic.

The smell coming from your clutch doesn't smell plastic at all.

Thanks for the driving tips.

What is the smell of plastic coming from, is that from the CAT or some underhood plastics heating up from the engine getting hot?

i thought the auto tranny didnt have a clutch or at least not a clutch thats sinmilar to manual

u have a torque converter. but the smell is from somthing else. my jeep was an auto and got the odd plastic smeel haster flooring it for a while

i wonder what the hell it could be and it only happens once in a while not always after flooring it

trd clutch is not more forgiving, its much harder to drive with. its still very streetable, but often finding myself starting my car in traffic