sam72

Did you ever find out what was causing the burning plastic smell and smoke out of the right fender with A/C on. My '04 avant is having the same problem. I just wanted to have as much information as possible before I take it to the dealership. Thanks.

schnellmb

I took it into my dealer, and they said it was excess cosmoline dripping off "the inner fender and/or firewall." (from the service record)

They cleaned off the exhaust, removed the air cleaner and inspected the valve cover.

No leaks. It was a very hot day in May when this happened. A puff of whiteish smoke appeared from the right pass. fender and smelled a burning plastic smell.

Hasn't occurred since. On and off I smelled this for the last couple years on really hot days.

Hope this helps!

sam72

Thanks for the speedy reply. I'm glad they were able to fix it for you. My avant is an '04 but I just took delivery on it a few months ago and it only has a few thousand miles on it (maybe cosmoline is the problem). It seems to be having this weird plastic smell on really hot muggy days when I have the A/C cranking. I haven't seen the white smoke lately. I did notice when I popped the hood the smell was coming from the area above the passenger wheel well. There were two hoses in the area where the smell was coming from and one had condensation all over it. Not sure if this is normal. I'll give this info to the dealer. Thanks again.

schnellmb

condenser. I thought this was an issue too, but the dealer said no. The smell did come through the HVAC vents.

Keep an eye on it. I've had cosmoline drip from the body in hot weather and drip on the driveway.