Burnt paper smell from vent as car warms up

Yesterday I had a burnt paper smell come into the car as it was warming up... I opened the hood and the smell is not noticable around the engine compartment. It is definitely coming from the vents.

As I drove it went away but then came back.. could a piece of paper have gotten against the heater core or something else?

Seems odd that it just started doing this, just driving back and forth to work so the car hasn't been any place unusual.

Any ideas?

Assume you checked in and around the cabin air filters? There are a bunch of good instructions for changing these (very easy to do).

are you sure its not.. burning oil smell ? its possible that oil leaking from your VCG that is getting onto the exhaust pipes and causing the burning oil smell to get into your cabin..

I had similar issue and I changed out my VCG and no more oil burning smell coming into my cabin.

I did check the cabin filters, nothing there.. and it doesn't smell like oil, and there is no sign of smoke.

Just the odor of burnt paper.

I have the odor of burnt 'something'. Very hard to pin down the smell. I wouldn't say it's paper, but, it's a sickly sweet burnt smell like nothing easily described.

I'd post a picture or video of it if I could - but - I'm assuming the only thing it 'can' be is burnt fluid.

The question is what fluid:
- oil from the vcg
- power steering fluid

To the OP: Look at the passenger side of your engine, near the front, just above the SAP valve and below the valve covers. Do you have oily gunk there?

Drove the car into work today and didn't smell anything so maybe whatever it was is gone... I have no idea.

Thanks for the suggestions everyone, if it comes back I'll update this post.

FYI, I did a search on this subject and found nothing.

Originally Posted by 2k528i

I did a search on this subject and found nothing.

I just ran an E39-only title-only search for "smell", and it came up with these:

• Burnt paper smell from vent as car warms up
• Mystery burnt plastic smell
• Burning Oil Smell at 61,000 Miles in 03 530I
• burning smell think its a belt
• Gassy smell
• Smell only at over 100mph
• Oil leak / smell
• Oil Smell
• Whats that smell?
• That Damned Smell!
• etc.

This went on for four pages. I didn't read them, but, it's a pretty common issue.
Note: I didn't even start to search for "stink".

Hi I started to notice a slight burning smell in my 2002 E39 when warming up and a couple of weeks later my blowers have stopped, took to garage and quoted silly money to repair. They told me its a common fault so I decided to research it and it does seem fairly common fault, I'm now in process of tackling the fault myself, although I'm not a mechanic, the never ending list of videos on YouTube should help keep me safe. good luck with yours

I have the exact same issue...when car is warming up I smell something burning through vents and under hood when outside of car. I can't tell what it is, though.

Originally Posted by bluebee

I have the odor of burnt 'something'. Very hard to pin down the smell. I wouldn't say it's paper, but, it's a sickly sweet burnt smell like nothing easily described.

Sweet smell is almost always coolant. The best way I can describe its smell would be similar to maple syrup. If you don't see any leaks/steam in your engine compartment, then almost certainly you have a leaky heater core, or connections between your heater core and hoses.

I'm having a little bit of this myself. It only started happening after I slightly overfilled my coolant reservoir past "kalt".

Also if you notice that your windshield is fogging up more than normal, this is a tell-tale sign of a leak around the heater core.

Originally Posted by gomolka30

Sweet smell is almost always coolant

Understood. It's a warm sickly sweet smell when coolant is splashing about the engine compartment.

The smell I have is sort of like plastic burning mixed with oil. ... (I'd post a picture of the smell if I could)....

Mine also smells like an oily coolant mix smell, and i have to top the coolant off every once and a while. I've done a coolant system over haul, except for the water pump, but why would i replace something that hasn't broke yet? I've also replaced my vcg, vanos seals, and am currently procrastinating about the vally pan gaskets. its just too cold to wanna get into that.

I found a mouse nest under the intake manifold when I was doing my VCG.

Originally Posted by mr magoo

I found a mouse nest under the intake manifold whan I was doing my VCG.

Lol. Wow. I cant imagine what you were thinking.

I Know I'd have a major WTF moment.

Originally Posted by mr magoo

I found a mouse nest under the intake manifold whan I was doing my VCG.

Funny you should mention that because I suspected one chewed my insulation here:
- One user's pictorial DIY for replacing the BMW M54 engine spark plugs (1)