Burning smell under bed

Hello,

I have a 2013 Toyota Tacoma 2 wheel drive. After driving about 180 km over Christmas I began to notice a burning rubber or plastic smell under the truck bed close the the back left wheel. Can’t smell in the cab.

Anyone know what that could be? I put about 150 lbs of sand in buckets in the back as I was driving through snow could that have anything to do with it?

Cheers

 

Look for something stuck under your rig.....like a plastic bag melted to the exhaust

 

Have you rustproofed your truck recently?

 

Brakes dragging on the side that smells.

 

If you’ve been driving in a lot of snow it could be traction control kicking in and braking that wheel. I know when I’m out playing in the snow in 2hi and forget to turn of traction control it can start to smell from the brakes.

 

So true. I wasn't thinking about this because my ABS decided to deactivate itself just before the snow started sticking.

 

U-Joint going bad?

 

Have you gotten under the truck and tried to track it down?

Is it consistent, or was it a one time deal?

 

This. Check the muffler for some burnt grease. The rear u joint likes to sling grease onto the hot exhaust

 

This. So many folks come on and ask a question without doing their own due diligence of looking for the issue themselves.


As far as the smell, most of the common issues are already mentioned. I've had the burning grease smell for a few days after I lube things. I also had a hot asphalt smell when I had a left rear axle seal going out-can be seen leaking a bit on the back of the drum if it's an established leak. Have to pull the drum to see if it's a new leak-you can see it on the shoes and coating the springs.