Hot metal smell and now dash lights. Help
 

hi guys i've been searching for a while for my hot metal smell but havent found a sollution and now my problem seems to have gotten worse.

For the past week ive been noticing a hot metal smell, doesnt smell like buring hoses or plastic. Literally smells like walking into a welding shop and smelling hot metal.

After searching and reading other threads ive come to the conclusion that it isnt a plastic bag caught, the belts are fairly new so they arent rubbing and buring, the hoses all seem in good condition and show no signs of wear.

After searching, it seems as if signs are pointing to the CAT. This is a used cat i purchased from someone, the miles were said to be about 40k. ive but on another 10k since then and before installing it everything seemed to look ok staring down the pipe (giggity)

Today after driving for about 20 mins, i smell the hot metal and then the CEL comes on(not flashing or aything). a few minutes later the abs and dsc light come on all at the same time ( i think i saw the pwr steering too) i immediately pull over and notice the engine is pretty darn warm. (it is a hot day out though?) all wheels and tires are on securely, and the exhaust tips are super hot (equivelant of putting your hand on a burning hot stove), i mean i instantly felt the heat of the tip without touvhing it too long. Usually isnt that hot.

I dont know what is going on, and will try to get my hands on a code scanner tomorow to pull the cel. idk what to do about the other dash lights.

car runs pretty well all things considered. no stalling, hesitations, pulls to redline, no funny noises, everything is good excpet for dash lights and hot metal smell.

Any ideas what is wrong, suggestions, im still in the process of searching on my own but im not finding any clear answers just off topic BS.

info on car
04 rx8 98k miles
mazda replaced engine, fuel pump, throttle body (now has about 15-20k)
coils/wires replaced 20k ago
plugs replaced 6k ago
oil 4k ago (change soon)
coolant 20k ago (def time to change)
tranny/diff/clutch/flywheel about 30k ago
brakes 20k ago and rear needs to be changed

my ac condenser is shot and just did diagnostics (freeon leaking from diagnostics)
just replaced tires 3 days ago
washed car yesterday (maybe something got wet?)

im a lil affraid to drive the car now dont want to cause permanent dammage, lmk what you guys think :-(

ok i think i figured out the dash lights (minus the cel)

i just put on new tires and i have a staggered set. this time i went with a different rear tire size. instead of doing 275/30/19 i did 275/35...i couldnt pass up on the deal and thought it wouldnt be so bad. the car still handles damn well, but im guessing the computer nannys dont like it. :-(

any help guys, the CEL wen away and the dash lights havent come on today, i still smell the faint burining smell tho, even a co worker commented on it after parking next to me today

anyone?

see if your rotors have different temperature.
might be a frozen caliper.

If I had a CEL, then I'd definitely want to know what the logged code was. Even more if the ABS and DSC lights were also on.
Just sayin'.

ok i jacked the car up and spent some time checking things out. i checked each rotor and i see the rear rotors def need to be changed they are very thin, but there is plenty of space betwen pad and rotor surface. same thing for the front. i checked the engine from the bottom up and i see nothing wrong visually. i cut away some pieces of my shredded splashguards which i felt could be a problem while in motion.

other than that im going to get the codes read tomorow :-(