Electric burning smell

[alan]

Anyone had a burning smell from the car.
I've had my car 6 weeks and from the start the max range I could get was 24 miles. This gradually decreased to 15 miles then last week about 5 mins after I plugged in there was a strong electrical burning smell. I immediately took plug out and arranged for it to go back to the dealer. They had it 2 days and said they couldn't find anything wrong. After getting it back I now get 30 miles from a charge.

Alan

 

[maby]

Never noticed anything like that here! Do you actually get 30 miles, or is that the estimated range? There can be a big difference.

 

[userx]

i got my car 2 weeks ago. i love the car but on the flat driving as careful and economically as possible it does not manage more the 18 miles EV only. there is a smell of electrical cables smoldering sometimes. i am very disappointed by the range. the battery depletes after ony 3-4 miles by a 1/4 already and that is on the flat with the aircon switched off. where does the ev range claim of 32 miles come from? does anybody get that range ? with the battery empty it does around 22 miles to the gallon and thats driving less than 60 miles/h.

 

[aitchjaybee]

i got my car 2 weeks ago. i love the car but on the flat driving as careful and economically as possible it does not manage more the 18 miles EV only. there is a smell of electrical cables smoldering sometimes. i am very disappointed by the range. the battery depletes after ony 3-4 miles by a 1/4 already and that is on the flat with the aircon switched off. where does the ev range claim of 32 miles come from? does anybody get that range ? with the battery empty it does around 22 miles to the gallon and thats driving less than 60 miles/h.

There are so many things that affect economy: traffic conditions, weather, driving style to name a few. But those figures are not good if you have no electric on. Before checking in with your dealer, I'd check a few basics (no lecture intended, just hoping to save a red face at dealership):
First and foremost, don't rely on the MMCS giving mpg or the dash predicted EV range, they are both subject to inaccuracies. Assuming the 18EV and 22mpg are real achieved figures, here's a couple of basic ideas (because they are basic you may well have considered them all already) but any one of these could have a big impact.
Have you left the handbrake on, put elec seat heaters on my mistake, pressed the 'charge' button at all, got other elec loads on such as rear window, wipers and lights? And then with your driving style, how did you compare to official fuel figures in the past? If your driving style affected fuel economy before, it will again. Lastly, if you are two foot driving, make sure you don't have your left foot resting on the brake at the same time as cruising.

In the UK October weather, most of us have seen the achieved EV range drop from c28/29 to 23/25 so don't lock onto 32 as 'correct'.

Hope that helps, and also no offence meant into your driving style etc, was just offering some ideas to consider 'just in case'.

Oh, and terms of actually achieving 32miles, I came pretty darn close a couple of times and have done 31.4 with 2 predicted range remaining. In answer to the 'how do they claim 32' is a set condition test. Have you seen the UK spec Honda CRV diesel TV ad that says it does 61.7mpg. I very much doubt anyone achieves that but nobody screams OMG I only got 55mpg (Said with tongue firmly in cheek, I've also posted questions about range early on as we all get used to this great car)

 

[aitchjaybee]

Anyone had a burning smell from the car.
I've had my car 6 weeks and from the start the max range I could get was 24 miles. This gradually decreased to 15 miles then last week about 5 mins after I plugged in there was a strong electrical burning smell. I immediately took plug out and arranged for it to go back to the dealer. They had it 2 days and said they couldn't find anything wrong. After getting it back I now get 30 miles from a charge.

Alan

i had it once but put it down to an ICE/exhaust smell. I only comment because I was plugging in charge cable when I smelt it but knew the ICE had been running on that trip. Nothing at the same time affected range though.

 

[jdsx]

Anyone had a burning smell from the car.
I've had my car 6 weeks and from the start the max range I could get was 24 miles. This gradually decreased to 15 miles then last week about 5 mins after I plugged in there was a strong electrical burning smell. I immediately took plug out and arranged for it to go back to the dealer. They had it 2 days and said they couldn't find anything wrong. After getting it back I now get 30 miles from a charge.

Alan

i had it once but put it down to an ICE/exhaust smell. I only comment because I was plugging in charge cable when I smelt it but knew the ICE had been running on that trip. Nothing at the same time affected range though.

Yes when the ICE ran at first (at least in mine) there was quite a strong smell - I presume it was just coming from the hot exhaust. Could you have run your car for 6 weeks without using the ICE at all? It's possible that if you did, once the colder weather came, the ICE started up to power the heater/demister or whatever, and this is why. No idea why it should affect your range, though, although I have read somewhere that the EV range may improve when the ICE is also in use, presumably the effects of regen.

 

[jaapv]

It has been reported frequently in the Dutch forum and I have had it myself. It is the anti corrosion coating on the exhaust burning in. It can take quite a while to disappear.

 

[alan]

Never noticed anything like that here! Do you actually get 30 miles, or is that the estimated range? There can be a big difference.

Yes I have driven 30 actual miles off a full charge.

Alan

 

[alan]

i got my car 2 weeks ago. i love the car but on the flat driving as careful and economically as possible it does not manage more the 18 miles EV only. there is a smell of electrical cables smoldering sometimes. i am very disappointed by the range. the battery depletes after ony 3-4 miles by a 1/4 already and that is on the flat with the aircon switched off. where does the ev range claim of 32 miles come from? does anybody get that range ? with the battery empty it does around 22 miles to the gallon and thats driving less than 60 miles/h.

I found similar previous to returning the car.
On my first trip I did 40 miles the the full charge was used and the fuel gauge dropped 2 bars. I never did exact calcs on fuel usage but it was certainly in the low 20's.
I have just done a 200 mile trip various side roads and motorway and it did 33 mpg.

Alan

 

[alan]

Anyone had a burning smell from the car.
I've had my car 6 weeks and from the start the max range I could get was 24 miles. This gradually decreased to 15 miles then last week about 5 mins after I plugged in there was a strong electrical burning smell. I immediately took plug out and arranged for it to go back to the dealer. They had it 2 days and said they couldn't find anything wrong. After getting it back I now get 30 miles from a charge.

Alan

i had it once but put it down to an ICE/exhaust smell. I only comment because I was plugging in charge cable when I smelt it but knew the ICE had been running on that trip. Nothing at the same time affected range though.

Yes when the ICE ran at first (at least in mine) there was quite a strong smell - I presume it was just coming from the hot exhaust. Could you have run your car for 6 weeks without using the ICE at all? It's possible that if you did, once the colder weather came, the ICE started up to power the heater/demister or whatever, and this is why. No idea why it should affect your range, though, although I have read somewhere that the EV range may improve when the ICE is also in use, presumably the effects of regen.

It has been reported frequently in the Dutch forum and I have had it myself. It is the anti corrosion coating on the exhaust burning in. It can take quite a while to disappear.

I had the exhaust smell when I tried everything out earlier when I first received it. The worrying smell I had was distinctly burning electrics.


Alan

 

[nick2b]

I have covered 2000 miles now and still get the rubber burning smell often.
I have some mountain passes on the way to work and I've noticed it most if I have had to stop (to let another car past) halfway up.
I was worried at first expecting imminent fire/conk out, but I ignore it now. I'm hoping it will either disappear in time, or make it to it's first service when I'll get it checked out.

 

[maddogsetc]

Think I experienced this yesterday, struck me as reminiscent of burning candles only much stronger. Thought it was outside at first but now think it was coming from the car. I'd be surprised if I'm still burning anti-corrosion coating off the exhaust after nearly 6000 miles :?

 

[maby]

Think I experienced this yesterday, struck me as reminiscent of burning candles only much stronger. Thought it was outside at first but now think it was coming from the car. I'd be surprised if I'm still burning anti-corrosion coating off the exhaust after nearly 6000 miles :?

Someone claiming 127 mpg can't have put a lot of hours on the engine!

 

[maddogsetc]

Think I experienced this yesterday, struck me as reminiscent of burning candles only much stronger. Thought it was outside at first but now think it was coming from the car. I'd be surprised if I'm still burning anti-corrosion coating off the exhaust after nearly 6000 miles :?

Someone claiming 127 mpg can't have put a lot of hours on the engine!

Fair point. I am up to about 180 litres used in total, but I guess a fair proportion of those hours the ICE would not have been working too hard. So maybe the exhaust hasn't got that hot, that often.

 

[jaapv]

Mine took 12.000 km to settle down.

 

[alan]

Just to reiterate the first post in this thread the electric burning smell that came from my car WAS NOT the exhaust burning off.


Alan

 

[Torkor]

Just to reiterate the first post in this thread the electric burning smell that came from my car WAS NOT the exhaust burning off.


Alan

May I ask what it was then? I Have the same issue.

 

[Ozukus]

Just to reiterate the first post in this thread the electric burning smell that came from my car WAS NOT the exhaust burning off.
Alan

May I ask what it was then? I Have the same issue.

I had a similar burning smell when I decided to test use of the Charge button for the first time. Initially the smell was quite strong, however after about 20 minutes the smell had lessened considerably, and therefore my assumption was that it was related to the generator as I have had no burning smell when running the car to provide heat to my poor GX3h's interior cabin.

 

[davec]

Just to reiterate the first post in this thread the electric burning smell that came from my car WAS NOT the exhaust burning off.
Alan

May I ask what it was then? I Have the same issue.

I had a similar burning smell when I decided to test use of the Charge button for the first time. Initially the smell was quite strong, however after about 20 minutes the smell had lessened considerably, and therefore my assumption was that it was related to the generator as I have had no burning smell when running the car to provide heat to my poor GX3h's interior cabin.

My experience also suggests that the generator is the source. I had the usual 'new car' smells generally described as burning oil or burning electrics over the first 3 months / 2000 miles with no real concerns. Then we drove to the Alps in December, 4 up, fully loaded with roofbox - no problem with 750 mile drive south until we climbed the last 20km to resort from the valley floor. There was no charge in the battery (which I realise with hindsight was not a good idea) and the ICE was revving very high to generate enough power to climb the mountain - the car felt distinctly underpowered. When we got to resort there was an overwhelming smell of burning rubber (definitely not oil, electrics, exhaust coatings, friction linings but rubber), really quite worrying but nothing I could do about it at the time. It drove fine the next day (4 up but no longer fully laden) so I put it down to the generator running hot and decided not to worry about it. Continued to drive each day (to neighbouring valleys to find snow!) and it coped much better with the hill climbs, particularly if there was some residual charge from a downhill decent, in fact I actually managed to fully charge the battery on a 38km decent from Val Thorens but even that wasn't enough to get us back up the hill to La Tania! With the ICE revving hard on a couple of ascents I did get the burning rubber smell again, but there doesn't seem to have been any lasting problem.

Since returning I've read numerous posts here of similar smells when the car is working hard and so far I don't think there are any catastrophic failures reported. In future, I'll definitely be saving some charge for steep or prolonged ascents - as others have reported the PHEV really does need the battery to supply full power.

 

[ukrost2]

Similar issues with my 3 month old 65 plate Phev. Done 11k miles now and the economy is getting worse. only 15 on EV with nothing on at all and 30mpg on a long run. Had the burning smell frequently since new and that's getting worse too. Took it to Mitsubishi and all I got was a load of drivel about running the car in eco mode or charge mode causing a 'warm engine smell'. The smell I get isn't a warm engine smell, its a strong burning smell not unlike a badly slipping clutch and I don't use charge or eco. I even got a copy of the official line from Mitsubishi UK to the dealer when they asked for support. The letter basically said that they were aware of the 'warm engine smell' and that a number of customers had complained that they weren't happy about it but that it wasn't a fault. Really good customer support if you ask me. I would put good money on there being an issue but it would cost MMC a fortune if they admitted it