rabinabo

The other day my mother told me that my car had this burning smell, but I didn't really think that much about it until the next day. I saw this thing sticking out of the bottom of my car, which upon closer inspection was a plastic bag that had melted onto the resonator after the cat in the exhaust. Then, I finally noticed the smell. It just smelled like burning plastic (duh). I also remembered driving over a plastic bag earlier in the week.

I jacked my car up today and got a better look. The plastic was basically fused onto the resonator. I managed to peel most of it off, and I scraped some of the rest. There still is a little bit that I couldn't scrape off very easily.

So the lesson for today is avoid running over plastic bags if you want to scrape burnt plastic off your exhaust.

rx8wannahave

Advice taken!

RX Renesis

it seems like the RX8's muffler and stuff catches bags very easily.... is it REALLY THAT low?

truemagellen

ahhh the plastic bag...still funny when I read these stories

it isn't that low (well compared to an SUV it is)...but the reason why our car is a plastic bag magnet is how hot the exhaust gases reach...the same reason why we (the manual trans) have dual Oil coilers...same reason why the rotary sips oils...high revs, equals high heat

but this reminds me of a HORRIBLE scary story you all should know about...how a fellow member here changed his oil one night, using a sheet of cardboard to prevent oil from dripping on the floor of the garage. He forgot to remove that sheet of cardboard, drove into the garage, went inside...and smelled smoke...the card board had ignited and was burning his RX-8 from the inside out! and it almost burned down his whole home...his garage received severe damage, his RX-8? well I haven't heard from him since then

JM1FE

It was totaled, he sold off some accessories in the classifieds forum, and bought something besides an RX-8. Sad story, but an opportunity for someone to make an aftermarket asbestos-lined shield for the catalyst to prevent catching the grass/leaves on fire if you park in the yard.

truemagellen

so sad to here about that 8's fate

during the fall I worried about starting a brush fire in my front yard so I made sure the driveway was free from any leaves at all times (which was a PITA) :o

Gomez

What about the story from last month, when a squirrel stored corn in someone's exhaust and this strange sweet smelling smoke was coming out of one pipe :D The guy had to tip the muffler on end and shake it out to find out WTH was going on....

truemagellen

oh I remember! the story brings fresh sweet smelling puke to my throat :p

o0o0o

Would have been more obvious once the kernels started popping.

truemagellen

well now I've got to go get a nite time snack...thanks a lot! :p