brill

Okay so this is based on a bunch of 'what if's... so bare with me here.

I've recently noticed a foul and very strong odour eminating from the rear/passenger side wheel well. The other day i saw smoke coming out of the wheel well and was thinking it to be very very odd... I'm thinking i'll take it to my dealer to get it checked out but I wanted to run it past here first (since my dealer 1hr drive from here)

My main 'what ifs' are that... the 'smoke' i saw the other day could've been exaust ... it was a very cold day (-10ish, centigrade), and for all I know it could've been exaust or steam coz my car was hot but the weather was definately the antithesis of hot. it lasted for about 1 minute after I got out of the car.

I've noticed my gas mileage has recently gone down considerably. This is leading me to believe one of my brake pads has stuck down or something???? Anyways, my gas mileage also could've gone down coz its stinkin' cold out and the engine never runs as efficiently... also my foot is made of lead, and well, i could be to blame for the mileage loss.

My last and final 'IF' is that i could just be smelling exaust... is the exaust of the civic stinky? I thought if it was, it certainly wouldn't smell like burning brakes.

Anyways, input other than "take it to your dealer" would be helpful... coz if i dont get any other input, im obviously going to take it there. Gonna call them tomorrow about it.

Diznavis

if it smells like burning brakes, it most likely is. when you say gas mileage has gone down considerably, how much has it gone down, and did it seem to happen suddenly when you started noticing the smell? someone correct me if im wrong, but i think exhaust stops coming out as soon as you turn the engine off. do you notice any power loss or pulling to one side(i would think if just one pad were sticking, it would cause pulling). did you do any hard braking on the day you saw the smoke?

brill

no hard braking that i recall. and i drive mostly at night so its the one time in the last week that i drove during the day that i saw the smoke.

One thing that DID happen just before i saw smoke... I had come down my road, which was totally slushy and that side of the car was using ABS most of the way down the hill because it couldn't get traction thru the slush.... our road had been salted ga-lore thanks to the damn idiot road maintenance trucks. heh.

my MPG were up around 40MPG (IMP), 33MPG (US) on October 24, 2001, that was highway driving tho, coz i was still commuting then... my recent checks have been...

Jan 10 2002: 27 (IMP), 23 (US) - i marked in my log that I had a lead foot during this period
Jan 28 2002: 25 (IMP), 22 (US) - i don't recall driving like a maniac during this period of testing... but I could've... hehe

Oishi

hmmm would the ebrake be stuck?...happened to my old car before....

brill

yeah i've given thought to the possibility of the ebrake... ive ridden in my parents old ford exploder hen the ebrake was stuck down... nasty smell when we got to our destination...also used to ski alot, and love that smell comin thru the vents when ur following someone who rides their brakes. So i know what brakes smell like when they burn i spose... ahh well. I'll just phone my honda dealer tomorrow. hopefully i can take it to the dealer here in town instead of the one thats an hour away

Ronin

Was it way below freezing recently in your area? Cuz, that really sounds like a frozen emergency brake... If it hasn't been warm recently, you could try parking indoors somewhere and get it thawed out, then see if the smell is still there.

( ... or that foul rubbery smell could also be Taco Bell residue ... when were you last there?[IMG]i/expressions/face-icon-small-tongue.gif[/IMG] )

DoubleOSuk

Son of a B****. they made the 2002 LX available in external blue? the 2001 is only that color on an EX. I didnt want to pay for one, so I got silver. man, i want a blue LX

brill

hehhe well this is canada... and the 2001 DX and LXs were available in EBP... but i wanted to wait for the 2002's anyways.

the problem up here is that we don't get EX sedans. if we want one of those we have to go to the Acura dealer and get a 1.7EL