After my s5 gets warmed up and run for 10 or so minutes i can smell what seems to be brakes or clutch? It is not real strong, and it smells like it is coming from under the hood though....Could it possibly be the clutch fan going out? Is this a common thing? Help me please....

 

are you sure it's not like fuel? i would of never thought that the fan clutch would stink if it went out. hmm could be wrong though.

 

how do you know if your clutch is good, my fan runs continuously. if the clutch is toast does that mean it doesnt run at all?

 

It is definately not fuel, and I would think that if the clutch of the fan was toast, it would lock up and run the fan all the time...as my understanding of clutches go anyway....

 

well what does a properly running fan do, does it just stop turning when the engine is cool or does it just slow down. maybe this is why my car runs cool..

 

I think it just slows down...but I could be wrong. I think it coasts... kind of like spinners , you know?

 

I want a chrome fan with a spinner

 

that would be dope....
But Really..Has anyone had this smell from under the hood? I want to fix it, but I don't know where it is coming from.

 

Not sure about the smell....but I have had a fan clutch go out on me before. It didnt smell. It just ran all the time. If your clutch is working properly, the fan will speed up for a while...then slow back down until the engine temp gets hot enough again, and then speed back up.

So mint...I think your fan clutch is bad. LoL

 

Mine almost has the same problem...after about 10 minutes it smells like its burning and its gonna catch fire. I know its not the fan caused I recently changed it. Thought it was the headlight switch/harness, but changed it too. Still there. Im in the progress of unwrapping the battery cables to replace them (progress is slooooow).

 

Do you have headers, are they wrapped?

Sounds more like the clutch, in the tranny.

Run the car, when you start smelling whatever is burning, pop the hood and start looking.

 

I found the problem....I found a piece of plastic that looks like it used to be a ziptie or something sitting on my exhaust man. heat shield. Where it came from I don't know, but I got it off there now. Thanks for the tips.

 

The fan uses a "viscous" (liquid) clutch, not asbestos.

 

Thanks nopistons...I did not know that...besides, my nose is not as well tuned as it used to be at identifying smells...it was plastic burning, and not asbestos. I could only tell that it smelled like something burning, and it reminded me of brakes or clutch, but my clutch is only a few months old and my brakes were not hot(car had not moved). I finally pinpointed it this morning.

 

Heh...dont you love it when it's something that easy to fix?!