burning smell

[corkymills]

Hi all. I have a 1999 v reg ford fiesta with 50,000 on the clock. When driving down the motorway I suddenly lost power and had to change down the gears and build the speed back up slowly. It only lasted for a very short while but there was a distinct smell of burning that lasted about the same time. This is the second time this has happened...any ideas..

 

[JohnD]

What did you find when you pulled over to the side of the road and looked under the bonnet?

 

[masona]

Engine

 

[corkymills]

Hi, no visible sign of trouble and smell only lasted about 3-4mins. It has happened on 2 occasions 5 days apart. Sudden loss of power making me change down the gears until it picked up again. Once engine picked up smell went and it was back to normal....

 

[corkymills]

Sorry, I have posted this topic in General cars as well as this section of the forum by mistake and that has now become a locked topic (admin please feel free to remove it).

However, on the general cars forum it was suggested that it may be an exhaust problem and the smell of burning is the exhaust overheating due to a blockage....any ideas??

 

[jonnyfishing]

Could be the catalytic converter breaking up internally, try having a visual check and an emission test done.

 

[corkymills]

Cheers jonny, I will see about getting it tested. Thanks chap..

 

[Ron Gamma]

corkymills,

burning and loss of power. speed will only build up slowly again afterwards.
sounds like the clutch driven plate to me. the fact that it works ok again after a while indicates that you may have an oil leak into the clutch housing.

not too familiar with the fiesta but check that you aren't losing engine or gearbox oil.
if ford finally changed over to hydraulic clutches on this model then check the master cylinder level as well.

potential worse issue could be a sticking brake pad/shoe - the burning smell will be the same. next time it does it - stop the car and carefully feel each of the wheels. if one is considerably hotter than the rest then suspect a sticking brake on that corner and get it to a garage asafp - preferably on a breakdown truck.

 

[corkymills]

Car losing power and a slight wisp of smoke can be seen coming from right hand corner (as you look under bonnet) accompanied by a burning smell. Also noticed when standing with the engine running the radiator cooling fan does not appear to be working. Could this be causing burning within a wiring harness. The smoke is coming from under the air filter housing. I would have thought that if something was burning it would get worse until it caught fire rather than disappear............

 

[Ron Gamma]

check the gaskets around the rocker cover at the back of the engine.

you might be losing oil through a crack in the gasket, which is then burning off when reaching the exhaust manifold. where the oil comes out the air can be getting in and causing a loss of power. the crankcase fumes under pressure are normally routed back into the carburettor/inlet to be burned off - if this pressure is lost or start sucking neat air it can cause the engine to run lean and thereby lose power. in worse cases it causes stalling when slowing down from higher revs but will restart easily.

 

[stuartinlancashire]

if ford finally changed over to hydraulic clutches on this model then check the master cylinder level as well.

I had one of these Fiesta's which I bought new in 1999, I beleive it did have a hydraulic clutch which I think was fed from the same master cylinder as the brakes.

 

[corkymills]

Hi all this is my sons 1st car having only just passed his test and he was trying to tell me what was going wrong. The way he was describing the loss of power I interpreted that as being engine problem, and the burning smell to be electrical. However, after quite a while racking my brain and picking yours, It turns out the wheel bearing was binding causing him to slow down and the burning smell was the wheel hub getting very hot. I have now sorted it out,after a few problems (posted on other part of the car section). Thanks for all your help guys..