Burning oil smell

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Dan Albrich

Well-Known Member
My family has owned a lot of older junker cars. Let's just say I know from experience the difference between burning transmission fluid and burning oil.

Anyway, my Clarity has had some louder than average (RPM sound) when running with 0 EV, but just last couple days had to use normal HV mode a bunch. Just long trips. Tonight (after a day of 200+ miles driving the day before) I started in HV mode as the EV range was 10. Normally that's a quiet experience but tonight it rev'd high like it does with 0 EV. Don't know why. Got home, parked in driveway. The car smells hot, but more specifically like burned oil.

Anyway, I'll likely schedule a dealer visit (I'm in warranty and have extended HondaCare). I'll call their service folks and see what they recommend.

Comments from this group have generally been useful. Also if folks here say this is all normal I'll listen to that. The car has done several multi-hundred mile trips and never smelled this way before.

-Dan
 
I’ve only experienced something similar under extremely cold conditions (thermostat reading anywhere between -15 and -25 celsius) but it wasn’t accompanied by any burning odours. That doesn’t not sound characteristic of a healthy well-driven Clarity from my understanding. There have been reports of some burning oil odours from brand new Claritys but I’ve not heard of this afterwards. Definitely sounds like something to have looked at.


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Normal.
Happened on the first few cycles of running it on HV or HV Charge.
Mine went away after 3 trips.
Normal burn off for a new car - especially one that was shipped in from Japan to the US via cargo ship.

Don't take it to the dealer, they will laugh at you...
 
Dan Albrich said:
My family has owned a lot of older junker cars. Let's just say I know from experience the difference between burning transmission fluid and burning oil.

Anyway, my Clarity has had some louder than average (RPM sound) when running with 0 EV, but just last couple days had to use normal HV mode a bunch. Just long trips. Tonight (after a day of 200+ miles driving the day before) I started in HV mode as the EV range was 10. Normally that's a quiet experience but tonight it rev'd high like it does with 0 EV. Don't know why. Got home, parked in driveway. The car smells hot, but more specifically like burned oil.

Anyway, I'll likely schedule a dealer visit (I'm in warranty and have extended HondaCare). I'll call their service folks and see what they recommend.

Comments from this group have generally been useful. Also if folks here say this is all normal I'll listen to that. The car has done several multi-hundred mile trips and never smelled this way before.

-Dan
Click to expand...
By any chance was there a recent oil change? Oil change techs are not known for being careful about spilling oil. I suspect the dealer will run it up on the lift, give a cursory look, tell you it’s all good, and say “Come back if it gets worse.”
 
Followup: First off thanks to all of you who responded. The help I receive in these forums is greatly appreciated.

So I've never changed the oil. The car has about 5000 miles on it now, but hasn't yet done the A01 or whatever to tell me I need a change.
In daylight I looked carefully under the hood. All looks brand new and clean. No sign of oil. Subsequent trips including with engine running haven't had noticible smell -- although I haven't been using the gas engine much.

So I'm going with the advice here to not worry about it. Car has been running fine, so I am assuming this is just new car burn in. And while it may seem odd to have this so 'late,' we really do drive the car mostly in electric mode.

-Dan
 
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