Originally I thought it was related to my diff oil leak onto the exhaust but that has been fixed and cleaned up for months now.

I had an intermittant coolant low warning twice in the last couple of weeks which spurred om in to investigate the cause.

The warning came on soon after cold start ups and the went off within a few minutes in both cases.

The coolant level is fine so I suspect a sensor issue and is unrelated to the hot smell.

The hot smell happens when the engine is at normal operating temp and is there whther the car is driven hard or gently, but is only present when the car comes to a standstill, it seems that when it is moving the smell is not drawn into the cabin.

I checked the water temp, it sits between 91c and 93c regardless of how har the car is driven.

There is not a noticebale oil or water leak.

Anyone else had these symtoms?

 

I had the exact same symptoms several weeks ago. Everytime I stopped I smelled what I would call a sweet burning smell filling cabin. Over a month's time I lost about a cup or two of coolant triggering low coolant warning, but no drips under the car, and car ran at normal temps. It kept bugging me, and we put it up on a lift and could see traces of coolant dripping from heater hoses, then falling on hot manifold where it sizzled and vaporized, leaving no evidence on the ground. After pulling the heater hose assembly, the connectors not the rubber itself had sprung leaks. We replaced about 2 weeks ago, and it took 4 or 5 days to burn off little traces of coolant, but smell seems to have subsided, and I haven't had low coolant warning light return since then. Hope this helps.

 

Thanks, I'll investigate.

 

with the vent pointed at your nose. If the smell is obvious then, the corner of one or both of your cam covers might be leaking oil. If this is the case, you need cam cover gaskets, spark plug tube seals, vvt seals, and center bolt seals. DO NOT CHANGE THE ISOLATORS BUSHINGS ON EACH BOLT. The dealer ones are $6 a piece and cannot be changed to aftermarket or the leak comes back. Check for a black spot on the back of the exhaust manifold by the firewall

 

yup, mine also had the oil leaking at the cam covers. Just enough to smell oil when I was stopped, not while i was driving. All fixed now so no more burning oil smell.

 

Had the same symptoms. Turned out to be a leak in the hard lines from the header tank to the radiator. The coolant fell into the engine valley, and went unnoticed, except for the smell. I could not find the leak until I used a coolant system pressure tester. (See my post above.) Then I could barely see a fine line of coolant squirting under the manifold.