For all you guys that track your car.....

[jaykay]

Originally Posted by Topless

Open the engine cover and have a look around. My car sometimes smells like hot exhaust but burning plastic/oil is a red flag. One of my friends overheated his power steering pump, the plastic fitting melted and splashed PS fluid on the hot exhaust manifold. It ignited and burned the car down. 2008 Cayman gone.

I am always wondering what to with the Boxster and fire suppression. I try and run with everything but the engine cover off so there is potential to get to the engine bay in time. It would be nice to find a reasonably priced fire suppression system that could hit the fuel rails area at the first sign of smoke....fired from the coockpit

[Topless]

Originally Posted by jaykay

I am always wondering what to with the Boxster and fire suppression. I try and run with everything but the engine cover off so there is potential to get to the engine bay in time. It would be nice to find a reasonably priced fire suppression system that could hit the fuel rails area at the first sign of smoke....fired from the coockpit

Currently our track fire safety crew recommends aqueous foam extinguishers (AFFF) and NOT removing the engine cover in case of fire. If you open the engine cover it creates a chimney effect that multiplies the size of the fire. It also puts you at much greater risk of injury. You can hit everything from underneath the wheel wells and aqueous foam is water based so it cools the components below the flash point.

In the case of the 2008 Cayman, he was running with a different club at the time. They used dry extinguishers and the fire re-ignited several times because they never got it cooled it down. When they did open the engine bay, flames went 20 feet in the air.

Car fires are bad news.

[stephen wilson]

What's reasonably priced? There are AFFF systems available for ~$350.

[The Radium King]

the rear passenger wheel well is near your oil fill tube - an item which often cracks (one end attached to the body, the other attached to the engine, add a lot of independent movement of each end at your last track day, some brittle old plastic, and possibly increased suction due to a failing aos and you get a bad oil fill tube). with a bad oil fill tube you may not notice it 99% of the time, but start chucking your car through the track, get the oil sloshing and it'll splash out. it'll then get on other components and cook, perhaps pool in the tray under your engine, pick up all the old brake fluid, coolant, transmission fluid and road crud and get it cooking, etc.

also check your cv boots, a bad passenger side cv boot will splash grease all over the wheel well and stink. a day at the track will work them especially hard, and if you have a car with a 6-speed, that transmission is longer resulting in a bigger transmission flange/wheel hub offset and increased chance of cv boot failure.

[jaykay]

Originally Posted by Topless

Currently our track fire safety crew recommends aqueous foam extinguishers (AFFF) and NOT removing the engine cover in case of fire. If you open the engine cover it creates a chimney effect that multiplies the size of the fire. It also puts you at much greater risk of injury. You can hit everything from underneath the wheel wells and aqueous foam is water based so it cools the components below the flash point.

In the case of the 2008 Cayman, he was running with a different club at the time. They used dry extinguishers and the fire re-ignited several times because they never got it cooled it down. When they did open the engine bay, flames went 20 feet in the air.

Car fires are bad news.

Great advice...The heads are pointed sideways with the rails ontop...actually I have seen this effect happen in an older 911.....the engine uncovered...lots of oxygen...the flames were 10-15 feet high at least and there was no chance of getting close to it as things got out of control very quickly there after

[Jittsl]

Back to the question at hand -- I would really doubt that power steering overheat and susequent failure/leakage is likely in a street car being tracked for the first time. Much more likely that you have an old spill of some sort is sitting in atop the the engine and is burning now because the car is much hotter than usual and the cornering forces are moving it around. The reason you smell it mostly from the right side is because that is the side the engine bay vents through - the other side is the air intake.

First thing to do is remove the engine cover, raise the car and start looking for anything odd with a flashlight and an extendable mirror. Wouldn't surprise me if a rodent has taken up resident or that you have puddles of oil and or steering fluid in one of the many crevasses. If it is not leaking out the bottom then it is unlikely to be a serious issue but you do need to figure out what's going on for fear of a fire. Good luck.

Blowing some high pressure air into the places you can't see will not do any harm and may dislodge something unexpected.

Laurie