Very strange problem, with a simple fix.

A few months ago, I was cruising along on my way home from work. I made a high-RPM (for my little truck) and a hard 1-2 shift to pass a lesser vehicle and accelerated away, again shifting very late. (Gotta have some fun, right?) Soon after, I smelled something burning, like rubber burning. Well, that sure was strange. I drove the rest of the way home very carefully. I checked under the hood, nothing looked burned or scorched. Nothing was smoking. Drove to work the next day, same burning smell. This went on for a while. I track my MPG and it was same as always so I was hoping nothing important was damaged. I did notice that the smell was stronger when I shifted later, at a higher RPM. Is something slipping? I don't think the clutch has anything rubber in it? Shifting felt normal.

I was overdue to change the serpentine belt; it contains rubber, maybe it was slipping? The idler pulleys seemed to spin freely and nothing was frozen or unusually hard to spin. New belt, and same burning smell.

It smelled like something that shouldn't get hot was getting very hot, like something on the exhaust. The smell didn't start right away and stopped soon after shutting down. Maybe a hose or something slipped and was near or on a pipe or the muffler? Had a quick look and didn't see anything obvious. The burning smell was still there after a few weeks, but not as much like rubber burning. But something was definitely getting very hot, but I could not tell where it was coming from.

It must have been something with the exhaust, right? I gave it a quick look earlier. Maybe there was a hole on top of a pipe or the muffler and hot exhaust was blasting on something and making it get super hot? Maybe it was hitting one of those exhaust rubber hanger things? Time to have a better look. I jacked up the side and grabbed a bright light and a mirror so I could see the top of the pipes and muffler. My exhaust is not totally stock. I had replaced the muffler and added a turn-down just before the axle. I had also installed a header. OK, from the top, the header looked good. Underneath, with flashlight and mirror, I checked the underside of the header, the top of the downpipe, the cat, and the pipe after. Looked good. Now the muffler. Hmm, looked like there was a circular mark on the top. That's strange. A hole burned through? I bought the stainless steel version of the muffler; it has been on for about 10 years but it should not be burned through. I slid more under to get a better look. There was a pile of rubber bands on the top of the muffler! What?!? Some looked totally scorched, burned black. Some still looked fairly fresh and mostly unburned. Oh, OK . . .

I have this habit in the morning. I get the paper, pull off the rubber band, and toss it on my tonneau cover as I walk back to the garage. It's just a game for me, to see how close I can get to the center of the cover. I always meant to look back as I drove away to see where the rubber band goes, but I always forgot. The muffler is directly below the gap between the cab and the bed. The top of the muffler is mostly flat. It is tucked up under the truck where it prolly does not get much of a breeze when driving. I don't drive my truck every day so there could be 2 or 3 rubber bands on the cover. So, I had rubber bands falling down though the cab/bed gap and landing on the muffler. Higher RPM driving got the muffler hotter than usual and the rubber bands really started to cook. Wow, what a freak condition! As some rubber bands eventually burned away, they were replaced with new ones. I scraped them off best I could and then used course sandpaper to remove the residue.

Easy fix: Stop throwing rubber bands on the bed cover! I now throw them on the trunk of my wife's Camry. What can go wrong?

 

this should be a sticky!

 

Great story. This reminds me of the good old days of TW before all the Friday threads and other rubbish that is the norm now.

 

You still get newspapers delivered?

 

There's still demand out there in some places. A guy at my work was mad that his bank branch wouldn't update his bank book anymore.

 

Haha, yes. My wife gets a financial paper; she likes to have a print copy. And we get a free, local paper on Saturday.

 

So you're just tossing rubber bands all over the place? Please stop littering. Didn't need a short story to remind me that.

 

Sorry for bringing back an old thread, but I have a picture of the burned rubber bands! I usually park in the garage, which is where I discovered and cleaned off the rubber bands. I parked in the driveway a little while ago and noticed they were still there.




My wife told me to stop throwing rubber bands on her car. Now I put them on the garage doorknob as I walk into the house.

 

https://www.uline.com/Product/Detail/S-13527BL/Plastic-Indoor-Trash-Cans/Rubbermaid-Office-Trash-Can-10-Gallon-Black

I’ll chip in for one…

 

Haha, thanks, but it has been taken care of. My wife threw them away this morning. It was getting hard to turn the doorknob with all those rubber bands on it.

I don't know, I just don't like throwing away something that I might need later. That's OK, I'll get over it . . .

 

Start a rubber band ball

 

Excellent idea, thanks!

I was able to rescue the old rubber bands from the trash . . .

 

Here, I fixed your post for you: