When I got out of my car tonight, I noticed the smell of hot antifreeze/coolant and hot metal. My temperature guage didn't show me to be running hot, and I had not been driving the car hard at all. I am due for an oil change, (which I'm getting tomorrow) but my oil level is full. This is the first time I've noticed it. Anyone else experienced this? Should I not worry about it?

 

The temperature guage isn't a precision instrument - it's designed to show only gross changes so Honda doesn't get "my friend's car runs cooler than mine by 5 degrees" complaints. How were you driving in the last 5 minutes? Getting on the gas a lot is certainly going to increase temps.

I wouldn't worry about it. You could check your overflow tank when you notice the smell to see how much higher than normal it is since higher temps will cause more liquid to be pushed out. I can also point out a recent case of smelling an antifreeze-like smell on my wife's new M-B C230K which turned out to be the factory-fill of windshield washer fluid. I've never seen anything like what they used (foams up nicely). Using different fluid removed the smell. YMMV.

 

I ususally smell the same thing when I V-TEC in first gear. I wonder if it's not the clutch I smell burning though since I've only noticed the stink in first.

 

I'm quite sure it's the clutch that I smelled. I smell it everytime I get out of the car now. I got my oil changed today, and the guy said the cluth smelled like it was getting hot. He topped off the fluid, and I'm hoping that will help. Last night, when I originally posted this thread, I had been driving the car pretty hard. If the smell persists, should I take the car in?

 

So now you were driving the car hard? It's very hard to say what the problem is without actually taking a ride with you. This whole problem could be due to your driving technique. A little clutch smell is going to happen though if you run the car really hard. My perception of a little clutch smell and what you're smelling could be totally different though.

 

I'm not sure why I put that I wasnt driving hard in my first post. I just noticed that after you pointed it out. Really, all I did was launch from a dead start, vtec through 1 and 2 gear, but that was it. I wasn't ragging it for a long period of time, though. I would consider it a little clutch smell, but I didnt smell it before, and now I do everytime I drive, whether I drive hard or not. (Sorry for the contradicting posts.)