Taking care of your car all the time is the best thing you can do. Although conventional maintenance is designed to keep your Audi A8 running smoothly over time, some unpredicted breakdowns can add heavily to your annual car budget. Today we’re going to focus on your sense of smell, and the clues it can give you about a possible malfunction, that’s why our team has created this article to help you in the event that you notice a burnt plastic smell coming from your Audi A8 . To help you verify that it is nothing significant, first we will highlight the different things that can create a burnt plastic smell on your car, then, in a second step, how to find the origin of this burnt plastic smell on your Audi A8? .
The different possible sources and risks of smell of burnt plastic on a Audi A8
So we start our article content with the different possible sources of burnt plastic smell on a Audi A8 . In general, noticing a plastic or rubber smell is never a good signal. In fact, recent cars are full of it and it could be the sign of a critical malfunction. Below we will review the different possible origins of burnt plastic smell:
- Transmission oil: This is the main possible source of such an odor. In fact, the action of gear or transmission oil is to lubricate the different components of your gearbox so that all the gears and pinions are not damaged, it as well has a second action as a temperature regulator. Nevertheless, over time, the oil will lose its performance and will not lubricate the auto parts and control the temperature as well, which will trigger the oil to overheat and thus give off that burnt plastic smell on your Audi A8. You risk pre-wearing your gearbox if you don’t take care of it.
- The accessory belt: Although rarer, it is possible with wear and tear that your belt, which is mainly done of rubber, will degrade and no longer rotate entirely on its axis. With the friction that this will trigger the plastic will heat up and burn out, this reaction will create a strong smell of burnt plastic or rubber in the engine block of your Audi A8.
- Defective hose wear: This circumstance arises specifically on Audi A8 that are starting to get a few years old or that have stayed a long time without rolling. In reality, storing your vehicle unlike what you might think will trigger the plastic auto parts to wear out more fairly quickly. Hoses are the first to be impacted by this phenomenon. The rubber will disintegrate little by little and with the rise in heat of the fluid that circulates in it, it may possibly melt. The risk of this problem is the breakage of the accessory belt.
- A body component: Less general, specifically present on Audi A8’s that have suffered a small shock. Following a front or rear impact, wheel arches, bumpers or other plastic body auto parts that may possibly have been bent may possibly rub against one of your wheels and give off that burnt plastic smell. This may as well pre-wear out your tyres.
How to identify where the smell of burning plastic comes from on a Audi A8?
And now, to finish our article, we’re going to try to help you find the source of the smell of burnt plastic on your Audi A8 . Now that you know the different possible roots of this smell, we’ll just have to do some checks to get rid of the tracks that don’t concern you and fix your issue quickly. If your Audi A8 smells hot, don’t think twice to go through our article on this topic.
- Transmission oil: Nothing could be easier, open your transmission oil cap (when cold) and verify that your oil is reddish in colour and fluid enough. If you see debris inside, and it is darker, it’s time to change it. Do not think twice to seek advice from our article to identify how to change the gearbox oil on a Audi A8.
- Accessory Belt: Visually check that your accessory belt is not in poor condition, it may possibly also produce a whistling sound if it is in poor condition. Do not think twice to change it.
- Hoses: For hoses, you will need to visually verify all your hoses to see if any are frayed or melted. If this is the circumstance, change them.
- Body auto parts: Last but not least, the last element that can trigger the smell of plastic or burnt rubber on your Audi A8, a body part, verify all wheel arches, that no part rubs against
Whenever you have any additional questions about the Audi A8, do not hesitate to consult our Audi A8 category.
