Comming home from work on saturday, I noticed a smell of plastic while driving and thought nothing of it. Stopped at Wendy's to get a bite to eat, it smelled very heavily on the outside of the vechile. I noticed it was comming from the back of the car.

Sunday I took it to my friend who's a mechanic he couldn't manage to find the problem, He said it could be the brakes or just a plastic bag stuck in the exhuast. Anyone ever came across this? Smells as is someone but a plastic spoon or fork on fire. Really nasty.... I've been callin mazda ASAP for an appointment but there line is busy.


Thanks Guys

Chizzolak

 

Chizzer337,
Yep. When the car is cool, look for the remains of a plastic bag melted and stuck to the catalytic converter. Thats what I had.

If thats it, you will want to pick as much of it off as you can because just a little bit makes that odor. And it leaves a black spot on the cat. Be careful because the cat gets really really hot.

 

I have a cheap car cover from PepBoys that I throw on my car when it's parked outdoors for any length of time. It has elastic on the ends (kinda like a fitted bedsheet). Once I put it on while the exhaust was still really hot, and it melted the cover -- the stuff stuck to the mufflers and I had that nasty burning-plastic smell for a couple of weeks until the last of it burned off.

You probably do have a plastic bag melted to your exhaust. Eventually the smell will disappear.

 

So --- a little resolution here. What was the problem Chizzolak?

 

aaaaaaaaaaawwwwwwwwwwwwwwww isnt this cute, a rookie helping a rookie... they grow so fast.... if you friend thats a mechanic couldnt tell you that it was a bag, i would never trust him with my car... but take a look under the car since your friend couldnt do that. my Rx8 smelled like plastic when i first got it, ill get headaches from it. how new is your car?

 

Mine smelled of plastic as well after it came back from Ziebart, lasted about oh...400 miles or so. It was only after it was driven for a while, but its back to normal, I wouldnt worry.

 

Lol, mine smelt the same way, and after reading so much hype about the 8, i thought something was dyeing, i brought it to the dealer, and he laughed -> there was a bag stuck to the exhaust pipe!

 

Yea, The smell isn't as heavy as it used to be, My service appointment for Mazda isn't til next week. They will tell me what's going on. BTW, my car has 21k miles....

 

That's what I was wondering. I've noticed the same thing on my car the last few weeks, and it seems to be coming from the rear tires. Could be a bag, and I'll check for that when I get home, but it seemed to have a bit of a burning rubber smell to it as well. Started right around when it was getting warm here, but that could just be a fluke.

 

D'oh!

Went for a nice evening ride in my 8... noticed a plastic bag on the road, tried to drive around it but I was going at ±40mph and couldn't change lanes.... you can guess the rest! A few minutes later, I pick a really strong smell of burning plastic...

Now I got a real good spludge of melted plastic on my cat, it smells awful and I wasn't able to really reach far enough under the car to scrape it off... I'd have to put the car on a lift. Worst is that this weekend I have a 320 miles trip to make.

 

leave it, the 320 mile trip will most likely burn the remaining bag off ( i had the same situation)