Whilst having an entertaining play with a black bug STI near Ashford on the weekend, I got an almighty whiff of something burning / a very hot metal sort of smell from the bug's exhaust when he was giving it beans...

Why did it smell like that and why haven't other Scoobs when being used hard smelled the same..?

 

Maybe he was slipping the clutch. They really stink - like something has died.

 

It wasn't a clutch smell, it was exactly like really hot metal and I'm convinced it was from the exhaust, I've smelled similar before from other Scoobs. Is it consistent with remaps..?

 

Wasnt his brakes was it?

 

Nope, not the brakes.

Having a good think, the other place I've encountered it was out on a run with Kent Scoobies. One of the cars I was behind at one point was giving the same whiff from the exhaust.

The most accurate way to describe it is as if you had heated up a piece of metal with a blowtorch until it was glowing red hot and gave off that sort of "hot metal" smell...

Definitely not brakes, clutch, oil or regular "been pushed" car smell.

 

That'll be a rocker gasket leaking and weeping onto the exhaust mate.

 

brand new exhaust?

some companies put protective coatings on them which then stink at first until they are all burnt off

 

Hmm.. this seems the likeliest culprit, but it doesn't actually smell like oil...

Definitely hot burning metal though. The only thing my over active thought process can come up with is a very, very hot turbo or very high exhaust gas / cylinder temps. What would cause those..? My train of thought was running lean, hence my query asking if a remap would cause the smell.

 

Possibly octane booster, i run nf in mine and it stinks if your behind it on acceleration

 

Aha..... now this sounds very plausible...

....But why on earth would an "unmapped" standard UK STI bugeye be running on it though...?

Or was the driver telling porkies when we stopped at the roundabout and he told me it was a totally standard, unmapped car? Wonder if it was because he thought I kept up in "just" a WRX (cunningly disguised spec.D ). I only wanted to know to verify the difference between a std 2.5 STI and a possibly mapped bugeye 2.0 STI.

 

catalytic converters make exhaust fumes smell metallic during 'spirited' driving.