Burning smell coming from vents

755

Asked by Joshua Oct 29, 2008 at 08:45 PM about the 2009 Toyota Corolla LE

Question type: General

Hello there. today my parents got a new 2009 Toyota Corolla LE. when I was riding in it on the way home, I smelt
this burning smell and I thought the car was gonna catch fire. My dad said it was the heater but I dunno if there is
actually a problem with the car? it only has just 26 Kilometres on it. do you guys know whats up with my dads car?

Sincerely
           Josh Chilcott

9 Answers

240

If you park around trees then some leaves or pine needles could have gotten down by the heater.

3 people found this helpful.
755

The thing is, we didn't park around trees or leaves because we drove it around town and then we came home. we as in my dad and I. my driveway doesn't have any leaves on it and the Toyota Dealership Certainly didn't have any leaves on the lot. I do know for a fact that if dust gets in the ducts it will cause a burning smell but the car is brand new. It couldn't have any dust in it. thanx anyway for the help dude

70

i havent heard anything going on with the new corolla just yet, but you could check if the smell comes thru the vents only with the system in fresh mode or recycle. you could also check if you guys by any chance ran over a plastic bag while driving wich is very common, what happens is that the bag melts onto the exhaust pipe and it takes a while to burn off. that could give you a bburning smell for a while.but of course, being a brand new car its still under warranty for 3 years 36k so you can always take it to the dealership.hope i helped

3 people found this helpful.
1,945

if there is smoke coming through the vents, then it could be a faulty heating system... Burning coolant... was the smell sweet? that would be burning coolant... I had a heater core go once... pissed coolant all over my buddies boots... lol... So I locked the car up at a stop sign, did a burnout and there was more smoke inside the car than outside ;)

4 people found this helpful.
755

the burning smell wasn't sweet and there wasn't any smoke coming through the vents but as the car warmed up yesterday, I smelt something burning. it actually smelled like burning dust. I am sure it is gone by now because it is a brand new car and it was its first time on the road. Thanks anyway for the help on my parents car.

3 people found this helpful.
755

thank you so much for the help. I don't think we ran over a plastic bag because when I got outa the car yesterday, I didn't see a plastic bag on the exhaust pipe and the exhaust system. The thing is that it smells like burning dust but I am sure that odour is gone.

2 people found this helpful.
755

Thank you all so much for the info about my parents car. I just found out that all new cars may have a burning smell. the fact is that my parents car is Brand new and our previous car did that too but I didn't now that at all until my mom told me. Your information means alot to me and always will. I know tons about cars two just like you guys. I know almost every single car in the world. you pull up a picture or point it out and I'll name it. I only know makes and models but I dunno engine specs, transmission specs, and a ton of other stuff too. Thanks so very much for the information you guys provided for me. Sincerely Josh Chilcott

1 people found this helpful.
70

I had the same issues as the others described, smoke (not mist) coming from vents. It really perplexed me. I thought, smoke, the fuses aren't burning out, fan works with no noise, etc. I thought about it and thought about it, what could be the source of this smoke. Another crazy thing that threw me off was, AC stopped working a few weeks ago (everything working fine just no freon) and the smoking stopped. I had it repaired, air working fine, smoke starts again. Did some searches and people said to check the evaporate core drain. I went and checked it out sure enough, I could see crud stopping it up. it was draining very slowly. Also, as for the source of the smoke. I noticed the drain rubber grommet had completely fallen out of the firewall and was lying on the heAtshield ( few inches from the exhaust pipe). I found this after driving some distance. When I popped the hood and checked out the drain, I could see smoke coming from the hot rubber grommet. Turning on the air conditioner pulls this smoke right into the cabin of the vehicle. So, I figure the source of smoke is from the grommet and it is filling the water around my evaporator core resevoir and dash with smoke particles. It was happening really sporadically which threw me off as well. So clean out evap core drain and put in new rubber grommet. I thought that I was going crazy.

7 people found this helpful.
30

i think there is something wrong with plastic vents,..i have this problem too, first my 2013 corolla, the my new 2017 iM corolla, same smell, burns nose,...wtf!

3 people found this helpful.

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