KnKaz

I have a 1996 Jeep Grand Cherokee 4WD that not 20 minutes ago started giving off a burnt rubber/plastic smell. I immediately came home and and have tracked the smell down to the right front tire area. Looked all around in the engine compartment and up under but am not seeing anything on quick inspection. I did find a small leak in my oil filter housing which I will be fixing as soon I get the part in but the smell is definitely not burning oil.

Any suggestions?

CurrySoSpicy

sounds like your smelling brakes. Hung up caliper?

nujeepguy

brakes get hot in a hurry. drive around block and touch carefully!
i do all 4 routinely after coasting to a stop,,so far,,cold!

moparado

Smells like burnt rubber? Read on.
Had my old '94 XJ front end aligned at a Jeep dealership before a long trip to Gettysburg for the big Civil War re-enactment back in the day.

Everything went fine until the drive back when i pulled over for a 'pit' stop at a rest area.
Strong smell of burnt rubber. Sure enough one of my front tires was heavily smoking, not exaggerating, and just about worn out on one side. White knuckled it back home.

Bought a new set of tires and had the alignment checked at an independant shop, sure enough it was WAY OUT of SPEC. No worn suspension parts.
That dam Jeep tech. who did the alignment didn't know his a$& from a hole in the ground.

As already mentioned, could also be a stuck caliper or bad hub bearing.