AllAnIllusion

Hey guys, so I have an '11 WRX with some pretty basic mods, here is the link to my build thread

https://www.i-club.com/forums/ongoin...-hatch-238174/

Last year I installed the Cobb SF intake with airbox (using my Cobb AP, of course) and after about 2 weeks of having it on my car was making a horrid burning smell frequently when driving. The smell was kind of a hot rubber/friction burning smell, almost like burning the clutch but I have no idea why it would be making that smell at dead stops or on the highway. My engine never got too hot, I never had any white smoke coming out of my exhaust and never had any smoke in the engine bay. One strange thing was when it would occur, sometimes it would be cruising on the highway at 65-70, somtimes at a dead stop at a red light, sometimes while driving in town. After speaking with the folks at Cobb they urged me to take the intake off and reinstall, which I did a couple times, but the smell presisted. They were nice enough to give me a refund on the intake.

Well, this year I decided I wanted to try out an intake again, so I went with the AEM cold air intake (also supported by the Cobb AP) and I put that on a few weeks ago. My car is now making the SAME SMELL it made with the Cobb intake. Has anyone else run into this problem or know what the cause could be? There are no hoses or anything under the hood in the wrong place touching anything hot, the intake is installed correct and I am running the right map on my AP. Any help would be appreciated. If I can't figure it out there may be an AEM cai in the "for sale" thread soon

PROcede

iTrader: (12)

Seems to be something with intakes in general on our cars. i sometimes had that same issue with the cobb intake then i switched to the AEM because i'm going FMIC. I only noticed the smell when i was at WOT for more then a few seconds. Even on the AEM doing some logging for my tune i have smelled a faint type of burn smell for only a few seconds after doing the hard run but it vanishes pretty quickly. I never have the smell when idle or cruising only on hard WOT runs but i haven't noticed it lately.

AllAnIllusion

Thanks for the feedback. I'm going to keep the AEM on for a while, keep my eyes (and nose) open, and hope that it goes away on its own or that I can trace it to something. The smell has been coming during around town cruising which has me scratching my head. I've made several 80+ miles trips since I put it on and have not smelled anything during the extended periods of use, when I would most expect it to happen. Maybe our cars really are just that sensitive to intakes, huh?

PROcede

iTrader: (12)

I'm religious about monitoring logs for my car and checking fluids and everything checks out fine even when i've noticed the whiff of burning smell. I've also been in a few other GR's and GD's and have noticed a similar smell when punching it to redline. Again it's really odd you are having that smell just cruising though.

Nice car and color btw

AllAnIllusion

I do check my fluids on a regular basis and everything seems fine in that regard. If it keeps up I'll do some logging and have someone check them for me, I'm relatively new to the world of modified cars, and to be honest (even though it exposes me as a n00b!), I wouldn't know what to look for in the logs. The last "fun" car I owned was an '01 Celica GT-S way back 10 years ago and I didn't do any significant mods to that car. Been driving trucks, Camrys, and station wagons inbetween the Celica and my WRX. I'm still learning.....

It is nice to know that others have experienced this same smell, hopefully it's nothing bad. I have been warned about various sounds, smells, etc that Subarus are prone to make, maybe this is nothing to freak out about.

Nice car and color choice to you as well! WRB baby!

slugrx

iTrader: (12)

its "all an illusion"

haha jk

maybe its the oem plastic intake pieces getting hotter?

AllAnIllusion

^Hahaha

So after a few more days of driving I have not noticed the smell while cruising but have after punching it several times. That seems to be a more "normal" time to experience it, as long as it doesn't do it during stops and while curising I'm ok.

bushidokawi

iTrader: (1)

I have the AEM intake with a DP and stage 2 pro tune and have no smell. I don't think the smell is normal.

AllAnIllusion

Hmmm....I am going to have to keep an extra close eye on this. I'm not going to chance ruining the car over an intake....should the smell keep up, good-bye AEM.....

AllAnIllusion

Been driving her in this heat over the last couple days, no smells no problems...fingers crossed.....

WREXNFX

iTrader: (3)

Are you driving hard when you smell this?
your air fuel mixture is your best friend on these motors, I recommend getting a air fuel mixture guage setup with a wideband sensor place it in your down pipe right after the turbo and monitor your air fuel ratio your probably leaning out due to the CAI and thats where the smell is coming from .
Cobb maps are made from one or two motors and some what safe settings and not all motors will run right with those maps, a real dyno or road tune made from a local tuner would be your best bet to getting your motor to run properly with no issues.
I have a EQ road tune and I am running the cobb intake and have no weird smells or performance issues.

AllAnIllusion

It was happening under various driving conditions when I had the Cobb intake. With the AEM (which is on now) I wasn't having any problems and then the same smell I had with the Cobb came on out of nowhere which is when I made this thread. Since then I have not smelled anything stange and the car is running fine (the car was never driving stange, even when the smell would occur). I fully plan on getting a custom tune soon, I have heard good things about FW Motorsports in the Sacramento area which is only about 45 minutes from me, I'm going to do a little more research on tuners in my area, and hopefully have a custom tune within the next couple months. Thanks for the info!

bushidokawi

iTrader: (1)

I called and spoke with FW motorsports about a custom tune and the guy told me that he prefers to tune with the stock intake. Since i just bought an AEM intake, I was not going to return it. So I went with EQ tuning in fairfield, 45 minute drive but well worth it, car drives great. I think the smell is the AF ratio as suggested, I would PM ED from equilibrium and ask for his opinion.