Olskoolkool

My jeep has 48k and I have a strange smell at higher rpms. When I first bought it I would smell what I thought was clutch. This would happen at
say 6k rpm. Now I smell this oder at 3500. I have watched my tachometer forever and see no slipping from the clutch. I've herd that the throw out bearings are not that great from the factory, but there is no wine or squeal. I've put it in 6th gear and accelerated but still no slip.

Now I've put nothing but shell 89 gas in it for 3 years, but on our last vacation every kind of gas from Illinois to Alabama went through my engine. Talking to my father he said it may be the catalytic converter.

Has anyone ever had this happen or herd of a cat going out so soon. I'd really like to fix the exhaust before I try and tackle my clutch.

Baddkarmaracing

Could be a catalytic converter getting hot, I know when I run my 3.8 hard I can smell the cats burning

spanky1989

My 2012 just started having the clutch smell today in my way to work. Seems to be fine other than smelling like burnt clutch. Thinking I'm just going to have to change it and hope it's the problem.... Only 42000 miles on it

Olskoolkool

Well we got under the jeep and used a temperature gun to see how hot the cats got. The gun said 610 degrees and the rest of the exhaust said 208. Now I did notice that I have a leak somewhere and my entire tranny has oil on it. I think it looks and smells like motor oil but my father thinks it's ATF. There is oil pooling on the exhaust pipe about two feet from the passenger side cat. Could the heat from the cats make it down that far and start burning the oil? I can not see where it's coming from, but it looks high up on the back of the motor. I just had my cylinder head replaced and thought it could be spilled oil, but I noticed the oil on the exhaust over a month ago. It never seemed to clear up. I went to the dealers yesterday and they gave me some dye to put in the oil. It's going in on the 7th hopefully they can find the leak and fix that. If it isn't the motor leaking than it could be the transmission. Long story short I still have 20 months left on my warranty, the only things that are not covered are my clutch, oil drain plug gasket, and oil filter "O" ring.

Desert Fox

The solution to the various leaks and smell you are experiencing may stem from running your engine at 6,000 RPM. Do you do it often?

Olskoolkool

No not often. Maybe once every couple of months. I have to keep a Dakota r/t in check at work. Other than that 4500 when passing or getting out of a snowy ditch.

jeepmojo

holy shmokes , i think its hi any thing over 3000 .
6000 id id think is enough to blow the head gasket especially on a new gasket
maybe hasnt had time to even settle in . i dont go into deep mud with wheels spinnin
im sure the rpms would go up but till . and 4500 to pass a car / my guess is your
beating the piss out of her in my estimation . 3000 rpm would be normal as far as i can see on any terain . i could be wrong . but mine will never see 6000 ever (not being a wise @$$)

if i were you id buy a husqvarna tc 125 and go for it / 2 strokers are made for it

prob atf and motor oil mixed

Olskoolkool

So please everyone take this with a grain of salt. I'm not here to argue what is right and wrong, who knows more, and who doesn't.
I'm lead to believe that I'm operating my vehicle outside of its tolerances. My tachometer states that my red line is 6400 rpm. Does this mean that I cannot go anywhere near it? When I do go to 6k it's quickly shifted into the next gear. I do not hold it there. I understand that holding that high of an rpm for a prolonged amount of time is detrimental. For anyone with an automatic, when accelerating hard, where does their transmission shift at? Will it not reach anywhere near the red line. Also if I shouldn't go that high of rpm why let me do it.
I don't do this every day. I don't even do this very often.
My original question was if this has happened to anyone else. It may have been the cats getting hot. I say this because it only ever happened when I did go to 6k. I never had a drop of oil anywhere until I had the head replaced. Now I smell something at 3500rpm. I put at least 600+ miles on before I attempted to go into the danger zone. Also if I'm "beating on it", how did the head last 46,000 miles when everyone else with a (bad batch) head last half as long. I appreciate everyone's answers and concerns, but I didn't ask for a driving lesson.

Olskoolkool

jk_sea

You're not crazy at all-- the engine is designed to run in the specified range between idle and redline and your driving style really isn't the question here. If you say you're not slipping the clutch and there are no signs of the clutch slipping under load, then I'd rule it out.

Oil on the exhaust is the likely culprit. The operating temp of the catalytic converter(s) are much higher when under load - 1200F and above. The exhaust heats up too, in fact, if you've seen an engine run hard on a dyno, sometimes the headers all the way down to the exhaust will glow bright red indicating very high surface temperatures. Any oil on there is going to stink and start to burn off. Oil doesn't have to burn in order to smell it...simply heated up, it can stink plenty. Even running 3500 rpm is going to raise the temp of everything from the block, to the headers, and all the way back.

Just to clear things up...

You keep mentioning "clutch" but also seeing ATF on the underbody. If you have a manual, ATF is coming either from the power steering unit, or the transfer case. But the trans itself should be filled with MTF which is yellow like engine oil whereas ATF is usually pink-ish.

Also, for comparison sake, make sure your HVAC controls are on the same settings. You may be smelling more/less if you're drawing outside air in, versus recirculating, or vent/floor/defrost settings. The best comparison is probably with all HVAC controls OFF, to also rule out any issues with any complicating smells from the condenser.

And, you probably already know, but if you're driving in the rain, especially if you have a lot of stuff caked on the underside and the exhaust, funny smells can happen. Water + heat + dirt and grime really starts wafting.