ok Im getting a very similar smell as well lately. It seems to be coming from the back off the engine at the top. It smelled strong by the throttle body but who knows where its actually originating from. Any ideas yet on what it might be or how bad it could be? I get the smell off and on but when its on, its really strong.

 

its so weird that theres tons of us with this smell. I still have no idea. When I install my MREV plenum+spacer next weekend ill have some time to take a look back there and hopefully figure out where this smell originates.

 

I've had it for awhile now too. What kind of mileage do you guys have? I have around 86-k and it seems to have been around since 80-k. I started noticing it spring/summer 2010. The smell for me is most noticeable once I park and get out of the car, like the fumes are bellowing from underneath it. I haven't tried to pin-point it and I always keep fresh fluids in the car (although I keep forgetting to change the clutch master cylinder). It is definitely a burning rubber smell, not an oil or other fluid that I would recognize. After reading these other comments, I am beginning to think it could be the belts. Maybe I will look into changing them this spring.

I've also noticed the extra heat too, I replaced my hugely overdue cabin filter (old mouse nest) and cleaned it out completely. Since then the burning rubber smell has not gone away or gotten worse, but I do notice that even on a very cold day I seem to get overwhelmed with heat from the vents unless I crank it down to the low 70s on the thermostat and put the fan power down to 1-2 bars. I wonder could be causing that? A bad thermo-switch or something related to the temperature controls?

You watch, I am going to sell this car and it is going to burn down or melt its new owner and then Nissan/Infiniti will release a recall.

 

^try popping your hood and taking a big whiff of air from between the engine and the firewall. That seems to be the source of it on my car. I dont believe there are any belts near that area that would cause this. I have 48xxx on my car. I am pretty sure the car made this smell when I bought it at 36xxx. Havent had any problems at all relating to it. In fact I havent had any problems at all with the car.

 

To the OP and everyone else, i took my car to the dealer because the smell was driving crazy. A tech took my car for a drive and explained to me that is was the brakes that was creating the smell. I don't have the stock nissan pads, so he said that was the problem.

 

Lies I tell ya! Lol. I dont think its the belts either. Ive recently replaced my belts. (not to solve this problem) but the smell is still there. So weird that this is happening to all of us. Cant believe there are no tsb's for this issue.

 

IMHO theres absolutely no way the brakes would smell like this. Ive also stuck my head in the wheel wells and the odor is almost non existent down there. I also have stock pads so that wouldnt be an issue.

 

Today i installed an MREV2, 5/16" iso thermal spacer and replaced my plugs. I noticed that the smell is no longer there. I drove the car really hard after installing the parts and the smell of hot burning rubber is gone. I noticed a slight amount of oil on the inside of the upper and lower plenum during the install. I cleaned off the oil from the upper plenum and installed the new clean one below(with no oil on it). The smell is gone now. Im thinking somehow the oil residue inside the plenum was heating up and the odor was leaking out from somewhere before. Its weird because I really feel like it was a smell of burnt rubber and not oil. While I had everything torn apart I checked all the hoses and none of them appeared to be singed or burnt at all. So this leads me to believe its not a rubber hose making the smell.

I think I may have finally pinpointed the problem, remove any oil residue from inside the plenum. I suggest a few others try this and report back your findings. With the pdf file from Motordyne's website and a few other unlisted things that you'll run into along the way, i'd say a teardown and cleaning could be done in an hour. I used wd-40 to clean the inside of the upper plenum. The oil came right off.

 

When i had my 04 coupe AT I slammed into a Highway median doing 40 mph when i was driving in the snow trying to look at another G35 to trade mine in. Well after i hit the concrete wall it left 2 scrapes, one on the front bumper and one on the rear and road rashed the crap out of both rims on the drivers side but thats all the damage. But i also started having the same smell right after and my car would also die when i started it up when it was warm. So I just traded it in this weekend for an 05 coupe 6 speed and hopefully i dont have this same problem eventually!

 

Just got my $65 synthetic oil/filter change. Good for 6k miles.

 

anyone have any new findings on this... it just got really bad for me today..

 

I am getting this smell too. I only notice it when driving in tiptronic mode and accelerate hard. I've also had that smell come in through the vents really strong one time when using heavy braking... or maybe it was the tires that time?

 

I am getting this smell too.when driving in tiptronic mode and accelerate hard.
but It doesnt bother me at all.

 

I have a burnt plastic smell outside my car too now. I remember going over a clear plastic cup in the fwy shortly after smelling this. I am thinking it just got stuck on my exhaust or something but haven't checked. I was hoping the smell would burn off but it has been 3 weeks now and still smells. I will check under the car when I change my oil shortly....

 

For everyone getting this I figured hat my issue was and I've found others who have the same issue on other sites.....my rear driverside caliper froze (piston wasn't compressing so 3 of 4 calipers were working nd the brake pad on the bad caliper was completely gone.