Oh no. Smell something electrical....and a CV question for Loren!

[ALEV8]

I just pulled into my garage and noticed a electrical smell around the nose of my 2004 Turbo. About a month ago I would shut the car off and the auxiliary cooling fan would run for maybe a minute or so, which it's never ever done before. It's happened a few times but hasn't done it recently. Not sure what to think about this.

In other news I had some of the crunching noise and feel when making a hard right turn into my garage. Slight incline as you turn into the garage. When cutting hard left into garage from other side of driveway no noise. So today I was at Home Depot on a level surface out in the parking lot by myself and I decided to see if I could replicate the crunchy sound. Cutting the wheel hard left and driving in the tightest circle possible, no noise. Repeat the same procedure with the wheel cut hard to the right, no noise.

I realize that all-wheel-drive cars sometimes make crunching sounds, but my thought is something has gone awry, but why on a level surface does the crunching completely go away? Perhaps CV angle tightening on an incline causes the parts to make contact where they're worn out..... hence the crunching.

Loren could you weigh in here when you can?

[Loren]

If the smell is burning wires smell - further inspection of the source is needed.

Crunching noises could be as simple as a rock or debris caught in the suspension or steering on that side. Again inspection of for damage or loose suspension components is needed.

But a crunching sound I usually equate with a bad CV joint - so they should be inspected also.

[ALEV8]

Thx! Will inspect everything as lower control arms are wing swapped out for tS arms...

[wvicary]

In regards to the burning smell, inspect the air quality sensor for the climate control located near the brake master cylinder on left hand drive vehicles. It has a small heating circuit in it and can overheat and melt creating an awful smell.

[ALEV8]

Yes the smell is electrical but never before have I smelled this smell.....and I've been under the hoods and repaired almost everything on my many M BMWs, Mercedes, and my Toyota Landcruisers. This smell is a first, as is this Cayenne. I did temporarily wrap the vacuum line with Gorilla tape to stop a leak and a booster fault and there's a lot of heat there.....melting maybe? I'll look tomorrow.

Is the heating circuit activity related to the fact that its very cold outside? 30s.

Edited January 17, 2013 by ALEV8