Burning Smell?

[PerfectCreature]

Hey guys, just posting up to see if anyone has experienced what I am going through now.
17 Ram 1500 5.7 Hemi, 12k miles.

Essentially what’s going on is I get a nasty burning rubber-ish smell, sometimes faint and sometimes strong. Stronger if I really push the engine, like up a hill or a steep grade.

I have narrowed the area down to the cats, I thought at first it was some new tires, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. The cats are black, like spit colored black as best I can tell. They emanated the smell when I got under the truck to look.


Wondering if anyone has any ideas what’s up? Dealership can’t find a thing wrong, can’t seem to produce the smell and simply said drive it till it goes away....

Hoping you guys have some ideas?

 

[HammerHead]

Are you saying the outside of your cats are black? Covered in something?

 

[PerfectCreature]

Are you saying the outside of your cats are black? Covered in something?

Not sure honestly. Could just be rust I suppose. There is a plastic transmission cover I think? That’s right there....wondering if maybe that’s overheating.
MPG

Are you saying the outside of your cats are black? Covered in something?

Not sure, could be rust. I do live in the snow belt.
I checked all over and could not find a leak, so I am not sure.

I had a shop look at it and they cannot find anything either.

They think possibly that the cats are clogged, and the person before me did not run it much and the MDS caused the cats to have too much fuel in them, bunging them up. They attribute the smell to the cats burning off all the excess junk inside and that it should go away with a few good pulls and a some engine work.

Giving it a try, we had a huge snow storm, so I will find a patch of snow and have at it and see what happens.

 

[JohnnyMac]

At 12k miles that would be crazy for the cats to be fuggered up already. Apples to Oranges here, but I had an Acura many years ago, that had a small oil leak that leaked down on top of the exhaust and stunk up the car everytime it got hot and we sat at a stop. I took it to the dealer three or four times before they finally figured it out.

 

[KnurledNut]

I experienced a burnt like exhaust smell in the cab like something was backing up. Maybe 5-6 times then it went away.