Thread: Burning Smell, No-Roll

In the last month my Soul has developed a burning smell, like rubber, especially noticeable at the LR side, after highway runs. New smell.

Dropped by the dealer today and talked to my regular service guy. He said I'm the fourth with that complaint in the last month. He said KIA said it's the cosmoline burning off. Funny it would take so long to get started.
I've had a lot of new cars. Usually--not always--you can smell the engine paint burning off for a week or so. There was no such smell on this car.

I use a car wash regularly. SOP is put the car in neutral, you get towed through and at the end, where the guys and gals are drying the car off, there's a slight incline. All our other cars roll down this. The Soul just sits there. I had to put it in gear to roll out the normal 5-10 feet that other cars roll.
I'm wondering if there's a brake sticking. That would explain the smell and the no-roll.

Service guy said maybe that's the short wheelbase keeping it from rolling. That is silly of course. Our PT is about the same size, but WB has nothing to do with rolling ability. An incline is an incline.

Going in tomorrow to have it checked out.

what is cosmoline? easiest way to check for brakes dragging is put it in neutral on a smooth level area and just push it yourself it should move easily, also make sure your handbrake is not dragging by activate it and then release and do the push test too.

Not notice any odd smell on mine at any time.

It's a generic term for rust-preventives. In this case, cars shipped over the ocean.

Cosmoline - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Try the downhill incline thing again. This time when you get it rolling don't touch the brake and see if it stops on its own. If it does, you've got a brake dragging. As far as the cosmoline is concerned, we used to have that burning off all the time on new Toyotas in the 70's ( I was selling them back then). Could be that someone over in Korea got a bit overzealous with the cosmoline sprayer at the factory.

Originally Posted by The Old Grouch

Try the downhill incline thing again. This time when you get it rolling don't touch the brake and see if it stops on its own. If it does, you've got a brake dragging. As far as the cosmoline is concerned, we used to have that burning off all the time on new Toyotas in the 70's ( I was selling them back then). Could be that someone over in Korea got a bit overzealous with the cosmoline sprayer at the factory.

wow, so was I

Originally Posted by The Old Grouch

Try the downhill incline thing again. This time when you get it rolling don't touch the brake and see if it stops on its own. If it does, you've got a brake dragging. As far as the cosmoline is concerned, we used to have that burning off all the time on new Toyotas in the 70's ( I was selling them back then). Could be that someone over in Korea got a bit overzealous with the cosmoline sprayer at the factory.

Trouble is it didn't roll at all. Unlike every other car I've had in that car wash.

Just got back from the dealer who said he pulled the wheels and checked the brakes and looked for discoloration. Said everything looked A-OK.

I did a banzaii run down the freeway before dropping into the dealers, didn't smell the burning this time.

I'll give it some time.

Originally Posted by Neanderthal

Trouble is it didn't roll at all. Unlike every other car I've had in that car wash.

Just got back from the dealer who said he pulled the wheels and checked the brakes and looked for discoloration. Said everything looked A-OK.

I did a banzaii run down the freeway before dropping into the dealers, didn't smell the burning this time.

I'll give it some time.

Well, once the cosmoline burns off, it's gone. Actuallyn however, it was more likely undercoating overspray
since that's what they use on the underside of these, and I haven't seen the first trace of cosmoline anywhere on or under the car. That stuff was nasty when they used to use it on the new Toys as they would spray the entire vehicle with it, paint and all, to protect the cars from the salt air during the boat ride over here. Then there was the issue of removing it once here. Dealers were supposed to spray the car down with kerosene to dissolve it so it could be washed off' but the three dealerships I worked at used to buff it off, which, of course, did wonders for the paint.

I've noticed this as well as of late. Chalked it up to a combination of winter tires on dry pavement with my lead foot.