I posted this a while ago but didn't really get much of a response, so I thought I might aswell post again to see whether anyone can help.

I drive an 02 WRX PPP, and I've noticed that after having thrashed it in first gear there's a funny metallic burning smell coming through the air vents (and it's noticeable outside when you pull up). The weird thing is it only seems to happen if I hammer it in first, all the other gears seem fine. It's really hard to describe what it smells like, but it's sort of like very hot metal or something. Don't think it's burning oil, although it might be as I haven't smelled that before. The smell also vanishes after 5-10 minutes of normal driving.

Anyway, any ideas on what this might be? I would take it to Subaru for a look, but I want to see whether it's something I should worry about before shelling out £60 for them to have a 30 minute look at it!

Cheers in advance!

 

Clutch?? Hammering in first puts great strain on the drive train!

 

Could be actually.. Would make sense, as it's always when giving it some from a standstill..... Is burning clutch fairly normal if you're revving hard?

 

If your launching from a standstill your clutch will take a hammering. It should handle the occasional launch fine, but if you did it every day for a month the clutch would be stuffed