IS200t Help! I get burning smell like a hot iron

[Kam_Lexus_IS_200t]

Some context for weeks across the road someone had been installing External wall insulation and boards have scattered across the road I park on. One day I took the car for a drive after a while and saw smoke coming from the passenger door and later released that something got stuck and burned on the exhaust see the attached image. 
 

I took it a local mechanic and he advised me to keep on driving and it’ll burn off. Well it did sort of as you can see in the second image but the smell still persists. So I took it to another garage and he removed or painted over it I’m not quite sure and said he added a new cabinet filter to get rid of the smell. I thought it was the end of that but today I took it for a drive again and the smell still comes especially when you open either the drivers or passenger side door. No smell comes from the engine bay and the engine temperature reads what it should be reading.

What should I do next?

[LenT]

On 10/20/2023 at 7:23 PM, Kam_Lexus_IS_200t said:

What should I do next?

Well, it certainly looks like some polystyrene insulation material has burnt on to the exhaust pipe.  But it’s a bit surprising that a mechanic hasn’t been able to scrape it off.

Possibly there’s still some located on the exhaust pipe that’s hard to reach.  It shouldn’t be a fire hazard as I expect it will all gradually carbonise - a process you can accelerate by going for long drives that get the exhaust system really hot.

As for the smell, here’s a cheap but effective remedy:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Air-Freshener-LITTLE-TREES-Fragrance/dp/B0070YY4RE/ref=sr_1_8_mod_primary_new?adgrpid=128733248281&hvadid=606190324771&hvdev=t&hvlocphy=1006551&hvnetw=g&hvqmt=e&hvrand=8350481739510747798&hvtargid=kwd-47382050&hydadcr=9536_2247973&keywords=car%2Bair%2Bfreshener&qid=1697953264&sbo=RZvfv%2F%2FHxDF%2BO5021pAnSA%3D%3D&sr=8-8&th=1

 

[Linas.P]

I doubt air fresheners will remove burnt plastic smell...

I guess the idea of overcoating it with high heat paint was not a bad one, that said it seems like remedy should have been actually addressing the problem and wizzing it off with wire brush-wheel. I know they didn't do it because it would be extremely annoying to do that under the car...

As for smell remaining, I assume some of the stuff got stuck somewhere nobody can see, like under the engine etc. Not sure what else can be done here, outside of ridiculous over the top solution of taking all the heat shield away, removing and cleaning entire exhaust system.

[Kam_Lexus_IS_200t]

17 hours ago, LenT said:

Well, it certainly looks like some polystyrene insulation material has burnt on to the exhaust pipe.  But it’s a bit surprising that a mechanic hasn’t been able to scrape it off.

Possibly there’s still some located on the exhaust pipe that’s hard to reach.  It shouldn’t be a fire hazard as I expect it will all gradually carbonise - a process you can accelerate by going for long drives that get the exhaust system really hot.

As for the smell, here’s a cheap but effective remedy:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Air-Freshener-LITTLE-TREES-Fragrance/dp/B0070YY4RE/ref=sr_1_8_mod_primary_new?adgrpid=128733248281&hvadid=606190324771&hvdev=t&hvlocphy=1006551&hvnetw=g&hvqmt=e&hvrand=8350481739510747798&hvtargid=kwd-47382050&hydadcr=9536_2247973&keywords=car%2Bair%2Bfreshener&qid=1697953264&sbo=RZvfv%2F%2FHxDF%2BO5021pAnSA%3D%3D&sr=8-8&th=1

 

I’ve driven Manchester and back from London. And have probably driven a few hundred miles before too. The smell is there but a lot less. Only when I open the door I get a the smell.

[Kam_Lexus_IS_200t]

7 hours ago, Linas.P said:

I doubt air fresheners will remove burnt plastic smell...

I guess the idea of overcoating it with high heat paint was not a bad one, that said it seems like remedy should have been actually addressing the problem and wizzing it off with wire brush-wheel. I know they didn't do it because it would be extremely annoying to do that under the car...

As for smell remaining, I assume some of the stuff got stuck somewhere nobody can see, like under the engine etc. Not sure what else can be done here, outside of ridiculous over the top solution of taking all the heat shield away, removing and cleaning entire exhaust system.

You think it’s best to ignore this issue and hope that it goes away? Even tho I have driven the car for 9 hours today. 4 a bit hours each way. I haven’t paid much attention to the smell recently but it seems to gotten a lot better.

[LenT]

41 minutes ago, Kam_Lexus_IS_200t said:

You think it’s best to ignore this issue and hope that it goes away?

Well, from your account it does appear that it is going away. 

I would hope that the second mechanic would have removed as much of the melted deposit as possible before applying the heat resistant paint.  But as your third photo shows, there doesn’t appear to be any exposed material left that might pose a fire risk.

At the car’s next MOT, you could ask the mechanic to check the entire exhaust system for any remaining material while it’s up on a hoist.  But if you can’t smell it in the engine bay then it was obviously confined to the area under the car.

In any case, after four hours of driving, exhaust systems generally get hot enough to emit distinctive smells any way.  Which is possibly what you can now detect when you open the door!

[Linas.P]

12 hours ago, Kam_Lexus_IS_200t said:

You think it’s best to ignore this issue and hope that it goes away? Even tho I have driven the car for 9 hours today. 4 a bit hours each way. I haven’t paid much attention to the smell recently but it seems to gotten a lot better.

I think that summarises the outcome... the second mechanic addressed large part of the issue and now you likely have burned off whatever remains... if it would have got worse then I would be concerned! But as yo said, it got better, so I think it would be safe to assume the smell will be gone soon.