I live in Texas which = it does not get cold!! This morning it was 42 degrees outside, and I had to fight to get my 1991 N/A to turn over! After it started up, a huge blue plume of smoke was behind my car. Then, when I got back to my dorm. a burning smell was coming from the engine! I opened the hood, but nothing was smoking, and only a faint smell could be smelt! Also, on a side note, the other day I noticed a lot of transmission fluid was on my heat shield. Could this be because I had my clutch changed about a month ago??

 

Describe the smell. There's a notable difference between an electrical fire, and a fluid (i.e. gearbox oil) when they combust.

The fact that it was cranky makes me want to think it was flooded, but the blue smoke and burning smell confuse me.

 

Transmission fluid and a clutch? Do you mean hydraulic fluid? If so, your clutch master cylinder, slave cylinder, or hyd. hose may be leaking. Otherwise maybe oil leaking onto something hot?
hanman

 

Ok , the burning smell smells kind of like burning charcoal, I guess. About the fliud on thre heat shield, it is really dirty which leads me to beleive that it is from when I had my clutch replaced last month. I just wanted someone to calm my nerves, and reassure my beliefs on that one!

 

the tranny fluid is probably dripping onto the exhaust and burning. or maybe the clutch fluid.

 

Is this bad? Sholud I take it back to the shop and have them fix it??

 

Yes.

 

You might have a transmission leak. It could be getting on your clutch and burning it out. Also on a side note, check for leaks under your car.

 

Note my mechanic overfilled the trans and it was leaking out the transmission vents causing smoke.

Seeing a faint cloud of smoke behind the car while driving scared me at first. No harm though.

 

Like I said, the clutch is less than 1500 miles old, so it can't be a clutch problem. The guy that owns the shop is a really close family friend, and his head mechanic (the guy who did the work) said it might just be the clutch fluid from when they pulled the old one, that got spilled onto the heat shield by accident. I was just asking if this was probally the cause of the smell, or if another problem was afoot...