Smell under hard acceleration?

So I took the 98 Riv out to drive hard on the highway for the first time today. Love the ride, had a great cruise to the beach, but every time I accelerated quickly I could smell something.... It was only while accelerating and it went away almost right after. It smelled like burnt something, but not burning oil. I'm thinking either catalytic converter or torque converter. Any thoughts or tips?

need more info than that.
Was the A/C on? Were the windows down? Was the smell like something burnt or something rotten? Did you see any smoke from under the hood? Did anything look out of place under the hood? (ie belts)

jlaw wrote:

So I took the 98 Riv out to drive hard on the highway for the first time today. Love the ride, had a great cruise to the beach, but every time I accelerated quickly I could smell something.... It was only while accelerating and it went away almost right after. It smelled like burnt something, but not burning oil. I'm thinking either catalytic converter or torque converter. Any thoughts or tips?

No.

But have you checked your valve covers?

A/c was off, belts are good, everything looks fine under the hood. I'd say burnt more than rotten. No smoke but I only caught the smell at highway speeds, I wouldn't have seen a little smoke. I'll have a look at the valve covers tomorrow but I gave it a good look before I bought it and couldn't see any leaks. Checked the tranny fluid and it seems normal, no wierd smell or dipstick sludge.

I'm guessing valve covers too. If you're saying this on hard acceleration, there's a good chance it could be the rear VC.... which you wouldn't see a leak from.

So how much of my engine do I have to dismantle to change it?

So, pulled the engine cover, took it for a rip (I do love this car) and tried to recreate the issue. Didn't get the smell in the cabin this time but I checked under the hood and it looks like a small amount of clean oil is on the rear engine cover mount, down near the rear valve cover. I guess this must be the source. Looks like I'd have to pull the fuel injection to change the gasket? I'm gonna leave it until I'm ready to do a few upgrades I think, it definitely doesn't look serious.

I also noted that there was actually more oil in the motor than neccesary, maybe an extra pint more - I drained it a bit - it's obviously had a fresh, but sloppy oil change right before purchase. I wonder if the excess oil caused the issue?

I had this too. Turned out apparently a transmission mount was cracking and starting to move around--must have been the friction. When it finally broke, it was obvious what was wrong, and the smell went away after it was replaced.

I am stumped, and I think you should consider taking it to a mechanic.

I wouldn't worry... You've found a little leakage AND an overfilled crankcase. Add into this the fact that WOT runs generally burn crap out of the exhaust system, and without having first-hand (first-nose?) experience I'd say that you're probably smelling good ol' carbon burnoff.

Oh the joys of WOT!!!

After some more monitoring I'm really not worried. Good point about burnoff who knows how often this thing was opened up by the previous owner. Not getting the smell now so it really might have been the extra oil.

any more regarding odor? I get slight foul odor only with wot & roof open.
seems to come through roof and reminds me of bad catalytic converter.
I dont seam to have any performance problems or exaust leaks.
any ideas?

I crap in my pants when I take a corner too fast.maybe its happening to you too?

mike97 wrote:

any more regarding odor? I get slight foul odor only with wot & roof open.
seems to come through roof and reminds me of bad catalytic converter.
I dont seam to have any performance problems or exaust leaks.
any ideas?

Mike? Is that who I think it is?

nope.. got my gramps pants on and their leak proof!

haha

One of my friends from grade school with a Riv is named Mike, he has a white one in Yorktown, and I used to have the blue one. Not sure if you ever saw either of us going around!

Have seen a few around. met an nice older woman last week
driving a very clean white super charged riv. she said she
liked and cleaned it alot.

found the oder problem !
slight amount of gas is leaking around fuel module on top of gas tank. under normal conditions,gas just evaporated or dripped off side of tank to ground unnoticed.
found at speed with wot gas was hitting exhaust and muffler making the stink. under the right conditions when the roof happened to be open the oder was entering the cabin.
now the major problem !! the leak , its from the fuel module seal. the lock ring and tank lock ring tabs have rusted away enough to loosen and cause the leak.
I was going to replace lock ring and seal until I cleaned the area and found condition of the tank tabs . would any one have any fixes short of replacing the tank or
is tank the ONLY way to go? alot of work on the garage floor !

mike97 wrote:

found the oder problem !
slight amount of gas is leaking around fuel module on top of gas tank. under normal conditions,gas just evaporated or dripped off side of tank to ground unnoticed.
found at speed with wot gas was hitting exhaust and muffler making the stink. under the right conditions when the roof happened to be open the oder was entering the cabin.
now the major problem !! the leak , its from the fuel module seal. the lock ring and tank lock ring tabs have rusted away enough to loosen and cause the leak.
I was going to replace lock ring and seal until I cleaned the area and found condition of the tank tabs . would any one have any fixes short of replacing the tank or
is tank the ONLY way to go? alot of work on the garage floor !

well, at least you can get a replacement tank, they were Unobtainium for a while.

There was another thread on this site posted by a member who fabbed a repair to that lock ring, but I can't find it. Maybe another member bookmarked it?

If what I found is the answer, it's not surprising that Albert (one of the sharpest guys on this site) couldn't find it. Try this:
N/A 3800 Tech: Write-Up: Fuel Pump/ Sending Unit (N/A Series II)
7 pages. Start on p3. Looks as if this might have the answer.
Of course the N/A uses a different capacity pump, but that wouldn't come into play for this fix.
Best of luck.

Jamax wrote:

If what I found is the answer, it's not surprising that Albert (one of the sharpest guys on this site) couldn't find it. Try this:
N/A 3800 Tech: Write-Up: Fuel Pump/ Sending Unit (N/A Series II)
7 pages. Start on p3. Looks as if this might have the answer.
Of course the N/A uses a different capacity pump, but that wouldn't come into play for this fix.
Best of luck.

Thanks, I need to navigate thru the writeups some more, great info there. Missed it with the Search function.

Albertj