I got an '04 w/ 36k on it about 3 weeks ago. I've put just over 1500 miles mostly freeway speeds on it and yesterday I had to drive about 100 miles mostly city and rush hour freeway. I started smelling a burning smell like burning rubber that would come and go. When I got home and parked I looked and it dripped something for about a minute which left a small stain on the concrete a couple of inches wide, and then it stopped and the fluid immediately evaporated (I'm in AZ). This morning I drove about 20 miles at a constant freeway speed before I smelled it again, and it just was for a few seconds and then was gone again. Any ideas what this is? I thought maybe it had something to do with the clutch from all of the stop and go driving yesterday, but when I smelled it today I was in 6th going a constant speed.

 

Where was the stain with reference to the car? Did you have the A/C on? If so, the stain may be condensate dripping from the A/C unit drain pipe located near the passenger side of the car. It will usually continue to drip for several minutes after shutting down the car.

The smell may not be related to the stain. Check for remnants of a plastic bag on the exhaust system components. Fairly common problem.

 

Yes it had to be condensation from the AC if it evaporated quickly. If it was any other fluid it would smell and still be there. The smell of rubber could be any thing. It could even be the heat on a new rubber piece that was replaced lately ie spark plug wires, hoses, motor mounts, belts, plastic bag on exhaust, etc. Do you know what service it has had?

 

Yes, the A/C was on the entire drive. The drip was coming out from near what I think is the cat right in the center of the car - from the sensor that sticks down, it was maybe 2-3" toward the drivers side and I think about the same toward the back. Hopefully it was a plastic bag, I hadn't thought of that.

 

No, when I created a profile at mazdausa.com to see if the records are there in case I need them for warranty. Unfortunately it says that I have no service records at all, even though I created the profile using the VIN! When I got the Carfax it had a couple of recent listings at a Mazda dealer, but I don't think it specifies too much, pretty much all of the service records on the Carfax are to the same dealership, but they say pretty vague stuff like, checked fluids and belts - I don't think that any of them even list an oil change.