I installed a set of extra thick .125" Mr Gasket exhaust header gaskets on my small block and now smell burning rubber when the engine gets hot. Any ideas? I know I don't need them but I am trying to move my exhaust system out just a little and have good reason. Do you think it's the gaskets or something else? Never smelled it before and all hoses, wires, etc have plenty of room. Thanks!
I installed a set of extra thick .125" Mr Gasket exhaust header gaskets on my small block and now smell burning rubber when the engine gets hot. Any ideas? I know I don't need them but I am trying to move my exhaust system out just a little and have good reason. Do you think it's the gaskets or something else? Never smelled it before and all hoses, wires, etc have plenty of room. Thanks!
Ken, You better get under the car and take another look around to make sure nothing is leaning up against the headers. Sometimes just putting the car down could of moved something in a little closer. Maybe its just that you got some grease on the headers when installing them again and it is burning off of the headers. I never noticed any smell coming from new header gaskets but who knows what they are making them out of today. Maybe there is a break in period or burn in period so to say with the gasket material being used. Other then those thoughts I have no idea of what else it could be.
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1967 Marlboro Maroon 4spd Coupe 1973 Dark Blue 4spd Coupe w/air, original 25,000 miles 1999 Black C-5 Hatchback Coupe 6spd LS1 1934 Ford 3 Window Coupe eng. code "ZZZ" 350-345hp Chevy Powered! 1970 Black on Black Monte Carlo(FOR SALE)Asking $18k
Good Morning Ken I agree with what Stone has said. After checking around underneath and it all checks out O.K I would run it a while and see if the smell disapates. Have a Great Day and a good weekend.
Thanks guys. I might remove the radiator fan today and run the motor until hot and see if I can smell the burning rubber. The fan blows too much air across the motor to be able to smell where it is coming from. At least that may tell me something. If coming from both sides, probably the gaskets, if not, I at lease will know where to start to look and rule out the gaskets.
follow-up.....talked with Mr Gasket tech, he said they may need to get hot a couple of times. Ran the motor and couple more times, smell almost completely gone. So it was the gaskets.
Hey Ken Did the gaskets take care of your original problem of moving the system out just a little ? Glad it was nothing serious.
It actually did. Still no real clearance but they are not binding on anything either so that's about all I can ask for. They are 3" OD and the 2 3/4" original Allen's barely fit to start with. I actually used the .125" gasket and a very thin gasket I had from some time ago that is metal and fiber. Hope not asbestos! I also thought they were Mr Gasket but later found out they were Spectre gaskets. Probably made by Mr Gasket though. I just never in all the years of replacing gaskets smelled rubber burning. I have a feeling there was some kind of coating on them that needed to burn off. And no evidence of any smoke, just strong odor. Was really strange.
Ken, Luckily the smell and smoke burned off. Wouldn't want you to contribute to the Smog over there in Cali-fornia or is that just in the Los Angeles area? You wouldn't want to upset the Terminator would you?
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1967 Marlboro Maroon 4spd Coupe 1973 Dark Blue 4spd Coupe w/air, original 25,000 miles 1999 Black C-5 Hatchback Coupe 6spd LS1 1934 Ford 3 Window Coupe eng. code "ZZZ" 350-345hp Chevy Powered! 1970 Black on Black Monte Carlo(FOR SALE)Asking $18k
The problem was there was NO SMOKE so I didn't know where the burning rubber smell was coming from. Had there been smoke, I could have figured it out maybe !!! I live in the Sacramento valley just 20 minutes north of Sacramento so in the summer it gets hot as heck and when we don't get any delta breeze, we do get smog. Not nearly as bad as LA but we do get it. Just a few miles up the hill from me is Auburn and they are just above the smog. It is kind of ugly coming down the hill toward Sacramento when you see the white haze. YUK, glad I don't live in the downtown Sacramento area! It's not bad where I am, as I am on the fringe of it.
maybe !!! I live in the Sacramento valley just 20 minutes north of Sacramento so in the summer it gets hot as heck and when we don't get any delta breeze, we do get smog. Not nearly as bad as LA but we do get it. Just a few miles up the hill from me is Auburn and they are just above the smog. It is kind of ugly coming down the hill toward Sacramento when you see the white haze. YUK, glad I don't live in the downtown Sacramento area! It's not bad where I am, as I am on the fringe of it. 