Hey i have noticed a burning smell while driving. it only happens when the truck is warm and i have the heat on. i never notice it during the summer. I do know that i have some oil dripping onto the y-pipe but that isnt it. i cant figure it out. it is a 1994 f150 with a 302.

Thanks for your time,

Ben

 

Lots of things it could be, have you narrowed down to type of smell?
wire has it's own smell as does rubber and so on and so on.
Do you notice it more when the blower is on or is it more consistent then that? I guess i'm asking for more detail

 

Its hard to explain the smell. it happens everyday but it gets more noticeable when the blower is on a higher setting.

 

Sounds like it could be the early signs of a heater core or maybe the blower motor.

 

If it has kinda sweet smell I lean to the heater core. If it smells like burning plastic or dusty...blower motor. Where is the oil dripping from on to your Y pipe...valve covers? could also be picking something up from the engine compartment like a loose wire/vacum tube..etc laying on something that gets hot. If it's winter where you live...look for a mouse nest..My buddy drove his jeep everyday...get home from work in time for them to call it a day. one day he smelled some burning...we opened the hood and found two nests one down in the intake and the other between the firewall and engine...they used a lot of the insulation from the hood.

 

If it's a stick you could be burning up the clutch too.

 

If its a friction material smell, it could also be a front caliper hung up. The smell would be the pads burning up from constant pressure on the rotors.

 

I have the same issue with my 90 F250. The smell (burning plastic/rubber) comes from the heater only when it is on and hot. I have to open windows to breath fresh air. The AC hasn't worked for ten years. I have done lots of work on this truck so I know it isn't mouse nests but maybe the heater fan is starting to go. I suspect it is something laying on a hot surface that is being drawn into the air intake.

 

Could it be a cabin air filter? Not sure if they were put on these trucks or not, but they can give off an awful smell when they need changing. Also, on my Dad's 86, it sometimes smelled like platic burning and it turned out to be the defrost vents heating up that smelled funny. Or, as dumb as it sounds, if you've left anything small on your dash it could've fallen into the selector blade and be heating up/burning, most common thing I've pulled out of those is pens/pencils.
And sometimes, the heater smells odd from dust and debris build up over the years being heated up