2016 Explorer Platinum - burning oil smell inside the cabin

[llomll]

Hello:

I purchased a used 2016 Explorer Platinum with 24K miles. There is some sort of burning oil smell inside the cabin when climate control is ON and set to not-circulate setting. The smell is present when car is stopped but not when car is in motion.

The car already has Carbon Monoxide recall done along with "re-routing" of AC setting re-programmed by the dealer.

I crawled under the car and noticed minor fluid "sweating" under the transmission (pictures attached).

I showed it to the dealer and they said that it is normal to have such "sweating" of the transmission fluid. Ford does not cover this under the warranty unless fluid is "dripping". The car is still under bumper to bumper warranty.

So my question is.....Is such "sweating" normal? Was Ford Dealer correct in saying that its not covered under the warranty? Any other possible things I should look at to determine where the smell is coming from?

Thank you !

 

[peterk9]

I've never crawled under any of my vehicles so I can't say if it is normal or not. If it is considered as being "normal" then there really isn't anything to fix, warranty or not. Perhaps others can make a more educated comment on this issue, but you shouldn't be getting any oil type smell entering the cabin.

Peter

 

[Odrapnew]

Any discoloration that could be in the pictures might be from road debris/dirt/oils.
It doesn't look like any real leaks from what I can see.

But, I also agree with Peter that there shouldn't be any oil smell inside the vehicle.

 

[Adrian Gitch]

Your pics look fine to me. Did the dealer do an oil change during the time they had it? It could be something as simple as a messy oil change technician and it's just spilled oil from servicing it. I had a nasty lazy tech from the dealer do my most recent oil change and I smelled oil on the way home. I had to clean the engine area where he made a mess including the filter area.

 

[llomll]

Thank you all for your feedback. The dealer changed oil after taking the car in from previous owner. This car was traded in at Kia Dealer and not Ford so the Kia Dealer performed the oil change on it. I am just worried as it's not a Ford CPO. Would it be worth trying different dealer ?

 

[dudefish]

If you have a burning oil smell in the cabin while the vehicle is standing still, my guess would be that you have some oil dripping from the PTU on to the exhaust manifold. I'm not able to tell much from your pictures, though.

 

[613GT500]

If you have a burning oil smell in the cabin while the vehicle is standing still, my guess would be that you have some oil dripping from the PTU on to the exhaust manifold. I'm not able to tell much from your pictures, though.

Burning PTU fluid smells like propane gas.

 

[llomll]

Thank you all. I took it the dealer asking them to specifically check for the PTU leaks and they said we checked and there are no leaks. I am confused

 

[RhinoQuartz]

Thank you all. I took it the dealer asking them to specifically check for the PTU leaks and they said we checked and there are no leaks. I am confused

It might only be weeping when it's at operating temp and escaping through the vent.