Burning Smell Near Rear Tires?

Recently I've noticed a burning smell (kind of like burning oil or
burning fluid of some sort) coming from the rear wheels of my car. My
car is 5 years old and has about 60,000 kms. There is not a noticable
oil leak or anything obvious like that. I am wondering if it's my drum
brakes rubbing/getting too low, but the smell does not smell like
burning rubber - it's definitely a burning fluid/oil smell. But, I
know the brakes do need replacing soon. There is no smell near the
front of the car or the very rear of the car (near exhaust pipe and
bumber). The smell is specifically concentrated around each wheel
well. Could this be a brake fluid problem or can this be a symptom of
worn out drum brakes?

Thanks!
Paula

wrote:
> Recently I've noticed a burning smell (kind of like burning oil or
> burning fluid of some sort) coming from the rear wheels of my car. My
> car is 5 years old and has about 60,000 kms. There is not a noticable
> oil leak or anything obvious like that. I am wondering if it's my drum
> brakes rubbing/getting too low, but the smell does not smell like
> burning rubber - it's definitely a burning fluid/oil smell. But, I
> know the brakes do need replacing soon. There is no smell near the
> front of the car or the very rear of the car (near exhaust pipe and
> bumber). The smell is specifically concentrated around each wheel
> well. Could this be a brake fluid problem or can this be a symptom of
> worn out drum brakes?


It could possibly be a leaking wheel cylinder letting a little brake
fluid leak on your shoes... I'd get it checked out soon; a little
brake fluid leak generally doesn't stay little forever.

nate

As the other poster mentioned it sounds like leaking brake fluid from the
wheel bearing or could simply be a leak from a loose fitting or coupling.
The leaking fluid is probably dripping down on a hot brake rotor. Doesn't
take much leaking fluid to cause a strong smell. Also doesn't need to be so
large as to see something on the ground. I'd have the brake system checked
by a good mechanic and replace the rear brake pads if need be.

Could also be the rear brakes are so far gone that the rear rotors are
getting way too hot and starting to smell. Hot rotors smell like burning
oil. You may not notice any braking performance problems since the front
brakes are doing most of the work. That isn't a good situation and you need
to get them inspected now...

> wrote in message
oups.com...

> Recently I've noticed a burning smell (kind of like burning oil or
> burning fluid of some sort) coming from the rear wheels of my car.

I had replaced a set of shoes on an 87 mazda 323 and didnt load the bearings
correctly, after a 1/2 mile I noticed a burning grease smell ( wheel bearing
grease). This could also be bearing grease burning if these are heating up
either due to bad bearings.

"dig154" > wrote in message
...
> As the other poster mentioned it sounds like leaking brake fluid from the
> wheel bearing or could simply be a leak from a loose fitting or coupling.
> The leaking fluid is probably dripping down on a hot brake rotor. Doesn't
> take much leaking fluid to cause a strong smell. Also doesn't need to be
so
> large as to see something on the ground. I'd have the brake system checked
> by a good mechanic and replace the rear brake pads if need be.
>
> Could also be the rear brakes are so far gone that the rear rotors are
> getting way too hot and starting to smell. Hot rotors smell like burning
> oil. You may not notice any braking performance problems since the front
> brakes are doing most of the work. That isn't a good situation and you
need
> to get them inspected now...
>
> > wrote in message
> oups.com...
>
> > Recently I've noticed a burning smell (kind of like burning oil or
> > burning fluid of some sort) coming from the rear wheels of my car.
>
>