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Scorch smell from rear area?


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I drove my MJ home from the paint shop last Thursday, and I had some pretty stong smells.  At first I wondered if overspray got on the exhaust.  With the door stuck shut and other things on my mind, I forgot about the smell until I drove it again today.  I had not driven but a few miles before I started smelling it.  It was so bad, I pulled over to look underneath.  I saw nothing out of the ordinary.  I have the carpet out, and the heat coming through the floorboard did seem excessive though, but this last two drives are the first two summer/hot day drives I've had in it since last summer.  Maybe the heat was not that excessive.  I dunno.  Once I got home, I could only smell the scorch smell when I stuck my head over both rear tires (inside the wheel well).  I know brake pad material smell, and it's nothing like it.  And it doesn't smell like burning oil.  No sign of smoke anywhere.  Engine bay just has a little oil smell where I need to replace the valve cover gasket again.  

 

Any thoughts?  I drive it back to the paint shop Monday morning, and I'll be sniffing it again.  Whoever buffed it out must not know what they were doing.  Swirl marks on every panel, and multiple spots where the clear was not fully buffed out on every panel as well.  But where it is buffed, and when seen at an angle that hides the swirls, it sure is purdy!   

 

I did just post in a cooling thread, but this smell was occurring when the coolant temp reading was on the left side of straight up, where it normally is while in motion and doesn't idle for several minutes.  

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On 6/15/2020 at 5:50 PM, Pete M said:

if the painting is the only thing that has changed, I'm inclined to think it's related.  over spray of a clearcoat would be harder to spot than color. 

 

It was overspray underneath, basecoat and clear!  

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My transfer case output seal is leaking, and the oil slinger (I have and external slip yoke 242 t-case), well slings oil on the exhaust, and it does smell strong and really bad, being ATF. Smells nothing like motor oil; kind of more aggressive of a smell similar to burning plastic. Might want to take a look. And for the bad buff job, the ideal situation is to give the clear a month to fully harden and solvent to permeate throught. I you have a paint booth with a bake function and you know what you're doing, you can buff it the next day, but even then, you're on thin ice. My guess is the clear still wasn't hard enough when they gave it a try.

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Thanks for the additional replies.  That is good to know about the transfer case slinging oil.  

 

I will give an update on the paint with photos.  Cliff notes, first painter was fired for bad attitude.  2nd painter painted tailgate and said, "If I put this tailgate on your truck, the truck will look like crap."  So, truck got repainted by painter #2!  It looks awesome with zero buffing.  He even said to bring it back in a month for him to buff a few imperfections. Imperfections that require a keen eye to spot!   

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