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Bad smell and heat in the new to me Jeep

3K views 16 replies 8 participants last post by  MontyTJ02 
#1 ·
Got my '07 Rubicon yesterday and notice a weird smell driving it home. I figured it was some oil that dripped on the exhaust when they serviced it or some of that silicone crap they sprayed everywhere.

I drove it around for about 100 miles today and the smell persisted. It almost smells like a clutch plate burning. There is also some heat blowing from under the dash and the entire tranny tunnel and console is hot. Now I'm thinking it might be a bad Catalytic Converter causing the heat and the smell.

I have to drop it off at the dealer (Dodge) this week anyway for them to have their ding guy come by and remove a small ding. They are authorized to do factory warranty work and will be getting the Jeep dealership in a few months. I'll tell them to find out what is up.

I'm going to run out to the garage to check the fluid levels in the tranny and transfer case to make sure they filled them when they serviced the vehicle. It shift way too smooth to have it running without fluid though but you never know.

Please let me know if you have any other ideas or there is a known issue.

Thanks.
 
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#5 ·
Yep, manual tranny.

Today when driving to work in the pouring down rain and the top on, I didn't smell anything. Which leads me to believe whatever it was burned off OR the rain kept the heat down on what I suspect is a bad Cat.
 
#7 ·
Even though it's used maybe the dealer used some sort of undercoating or cleaner on it that burnt off.

My 09 Jeep had a strong burning smell for the first week or so. I also notice a different type of burn smell when I'm up in the woods and get mud and leaves up into the skid plates.

There are a lot of places underneath that get hot.
 
#8 ·
Check Engine light came on coming back from lunch. Not too happy.

I'm dropping it off this afternoon. They said they will make it right.
 
#11 ·
I did some digging and found out that O2 sensor is the one after the Catalytic Converter. So I'm pretty sure now the CC is bad. I took it in this afternoon and the General Manager said they will make sure it's right and check out everything else so I don't have to come back.

When I talked to the Service Mgr I told him my prognosis and when he stuck his head in the Jeep, he said "it sure smells like the CC".

I should be good to go on Thursday. They gave me a Rescue Green 4D auto Sahara to drive until mine is ready.
 
#12 ·
Got a call from the dealer. The O2 sensor wire was rubbing and cause the O2 sensor to fail. This caused the catalytic converter to overheat causing the heat issue and the bad smell. They replaced the O2 sensor and hooked up the Jeep to the computer. The Cat shows that it is functioning correctly as well as the rest of the emissions. The Service Mgr was going to put some miles on the Jeep yesterday to ensure everything was 100%.
 
#13 ·
Picked up the Jeep this morning. Everything seems to be fine now. They put about 70 miles on it while it was there so hopefully it's good to go.
 
#14 ·
@#$%#@$

When I picked up the Jeep this morning it was raining. Didn't feel any heat or smell anything. This afternoon on the way home it wasn't raining and about 60*. I started smelling the converter again and the tranny tunnel was very hot.

I'm going by the dealer tomorrow to take the service manager for a ride to show him. My wife came in the house tonight and said, "your Jeep smells". She could smell it in the garage.

I'm going to leave the Jeep tomorrow and also have a talk with the Sales Manager. I'm sure it isn't anything that is critical but, I'm going to set the ground work for a by-back and swap for another Rubicon if I have to come back again.
 
#16 ·
I'm sorry, but your dealer is an idiot for his diagnosis of the O2 sensor. There was more than enough information available for him to make the correct diagnosis.

His mistakes:

1. The rear O2 sensor has NOTHING to do with how the Jeep runs. The SOLE purpose of the rear O2 is to detect if a cat is bad by comparing the differences to the front (primary) O2 sensor. The ability to detect and report a poorly performing cat is a federal requirement of the OBDII system and this is why the rear O2 sensor is there.

2. Engine management software is pretty sophisticated these days. The Jeep (in "normal" throttle positions) is going to run in closed-loop operation. In closed loop mode, the ecu is polling the FRONT O2 sensors continuously to achieve an ideal 14.7:1 a/f ration. If, for ANY REASON, the ECU cannot achieve 14.7:1, the ECU will assume a very serious fault condition has occured and will immediately opt OUT of closed-loop in favor of Limp-mode.

As such, there is NO WAY that an O2 sensor can make an Cat run hot as they told you.... for sure NOT a rear O2 sensor, but further, not even the upstream O2 sensor.

This really isn't rocket science trouble-shooting - hence my "idiot" comment. He has no business to be in Service without a basic understanding of the OBDII components.
 
#17 ·
Reviving an oldie...any info on how you solved this? My 08 has the same symptoms. I never noticed the cat smell till I had the rear hard top window open the other day. I have a P0052 and a hot trans tunnel as well
 
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