would I smell the burning rubber outside of the jeep, near the rear if it was the headlight or ignition switch?

 

Ouch...Ha, ha.Doubt it.
Have you pulled the rear brakes to see if grease possibly leaked onto the rear brake friction surfaces?
I've had that happen from bad grease seals, and even torn caliper boots or leaky wheel cyllinders.
That stuff stinks when the brakes get it hot, and it too smells like burnt rat pee.

 

I had the same rubber smell when I first bought my XJ, it was the E-Brake sticking, my money is on that, especially if you have not over-hauled the rear brakes. Then I had the oil burning smell for a while, valve cover leaking dripping oil down the back of the motor onto the exhaust, looked like the rear main but it wasn't. Now I have a front end clicking and some other kind of smell I can't describe, maybe a u-joint IDK.

 

after a long haul i get that burnt oil/rubber stink but only in the front part of the rig
every once in a while i get a funky smell inside too i just figure its the character of the xj

 

I am planning a garage day next week and was thinking about pulling the drums to see what is going on in there. there is no dragging that I can hear/feel, and I replaced the shoes about 6 months ago. But I cant imagine anything else that would be causing it

I am going to replace the brake lines anyway so I may as well get into it while I am there.

I have never smelled burnt rat pee, but if that is what I causing my problem, then I can now say i know what burnt rat pee smells like

 

When you do your rear brakes there are a separate set of pieces for the parking brake, I think they are separate from the hardware kit.

 

When I would get out of mine in the summer, I would smell something burning too. But that was grass and other crap form the field getting stuck up in the frame cross member, up against the exhaust pipe. I don't know about in the winter though....

 

here's one that will make you think. years ago, after an engine change in my CJ7, I started to detect a rubber burning smell inside the rig. I didn't figure it out for some time, until my daughter mentioned the floor was hot under her feet. when we reached the 4wd Assoc. meeting we were going to, I looked where she said, and the carpet under her feet didn't exist anymore. it had melted a hole about the size of a silver dollar. upon further investigation, I had ran the muffler too close to the body underneath, in an attempt to gain ground clearance. I rerouted the muffler, and it worked fine. it just drove me nuts until my daughter found the problem. I know a CJ isn't an XJ, but they could be similar in this. especially if exhaust had been worked on recently. hope this helps

 

I am gonna have to look at my exhaust, a few weeks back I shortened the hanger on the tail pipe. The PO welded a stupidly long piece of rebar on the pipe and it hung down a lot farther than it should have. I will check and make sure it isnt too short

interesting

Chuck

 

 

Got to ask, how you know what burnt rat pee smells like? I'm just curious now.

As far as burning smell, I have the same smell, or one very similar to it. But its Only after I use my 4wd.
Ive over hauled my brakes, did complete fluid change up front, next (this week I hope, weather permitting) is a trans filter & fluid change and tc case fluid change.

 

I have this problem in my xj, I ran the exhaust closer to the floor (clearence), and now anyone who rides back there gets the hot feet . I don't have carpet though, and up until yesterday I didn't realize that smell, was my rubber floor mat stinking when it gets hot. I had blamed my bad blower motor resistor for it before, lol.

 

well, I think I found my problem, now that I am in the garage wheels off, it seems like one of the rear brakes was dragging a little.

Of course the drum on that side is now stuck and wont come off, I loosened the e-brake nut, the adjuster seems stuck, and still no luck. I can move it around a little, it slides about an inch and the little ridge on the back seems to get caught.

I am soaking the adjuster in a little pb at the moment to see if I can motovate it a little more before the beatings commence

 

To answer the burnt rat pee question:

I had an old Barracuda that was a host for the local rat population I/E disneyworld for the rats.
The interior was totally ravaged by the rats and by baking in the sun for years it had a burnt rat pee smell.
It smells very similar to, and can mimic very well, hot brakes/oil drips on exhaust and many other heat related automobile smells.

Mixed with rat poop it can be very distinctly similar to very hot tractor trailer brakes and burnt clutch.

 

Thats good to know, now my life is complete