Burnt toast. It’s never a pleasant smell, not in the kitchen and definitely not in your car. So what might be causing this breakfast fopaux so far away from the toaster? Let’s talk about it.

1. Lighten up already.

If you smell burnt toast while working the gears in your car, you’re probably having an issue with the clutch. The other suspect is the break pads. So how can you be sure? Well there are a couple of possibilities here. You may be riding the clutch too hard – lighten up a little. If you’re pressing the break too hard, you may be creating a little too much heat for your brake pads – try downshifting. If it’s neither of those, check the handbrake or emergency brake – we’ve all missed that one once or twice.

2. Got oil?

If you smell oil burning, your engine might be overheating or you may be burning oil. It’s important to determine which of these it is. Check the dipstick to make certain you’re good on transmission fluid by using the dipstick – if you’re fluid is low the gears may be getting too hot because they are not properly lubricated. If you’re uncomfortable checking yourself, bring it in and one of our technicians will be happy to help you!

3. Burn rubber!

If you smell burnt rubber instead of burnt oil, check to see if there’s a loose hose under the hood, it’s possible that it’s touching the hot engine. That’s definitely not great news. It may be a good time to go ahead and take advantage of our farm calls rather than driving it in or trying to maneuver carefully around the hot engine yourself.