My car smells like burning oil/exhaust really bad

[Lee]

When I drive my car it smells like burning oil and the exhaust stinks way worse than normal. If I accelerate hard the smell gets really strong. Please help!

Topic

[david clermont-barriere]

Do you have check engine oil level? Do you loose any oil onthe floor? Did you open the hood to have a look?

[Lee]

My valve cover has always leaked and the oil level is normal. the car runs and drives fine it just smells awful, almost toxic. yesterday I cleaned puddles of oil around the spark plugs and wires. drove it around after that and problem still there…then I noticed that when you accelerate hard it gets really bad. The car is a 98 cavalier 2.2

[Lee]

Figured it out, cant believe it… I recently put a/c pro in to charge the system. Turns out there was a leak in the 15mm bolt that connects the metal lines to the compressor…there was a bright green/yellow liquid dripping from the compressor and I thought it was antifreeze, then I remembered I run dexcool. so that means it could only be the a/c pro leaking out. (im assuming it had uv coloring in it) So when I hit the gas and spin the compressor harder it spews out onto my hot exhaust that is sitting right next to it. I turned my a/c completely off and drove it…no smell.

[EricTheCarGuy]

It may also be the result of an AC or AC compressor problem. If the compressor is damaged it can cause the belt to slip. When that happens, it smells like burning rubber. You also get that smell from a bad compressor clutch. You may not be out of the woods yet.

Good luck and keep us posted.

[Author]

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