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1999 Isuzu Rodeo LS 4dr 3.2L Manual

1999 Isuzu Rodeo
Trim Info:
Rear-Wheel Drive, 4 Door SUV, Sport Utility
18 mpg city / 21 mpg hwy
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May 2, 2012, 7:06 pm

Sue W

Question: smells like exhaust inside, carpet burned on passengers side, hole in floorboard

started noticing a burning smell and the engine is very loud on the passengers side floorboard when driving, but gets quieter when you push in the clutch or take your foot off the gas pedal. Noticed the carpet was burnt, pulled it back and found that there is a hole in the floor board so now we can see the ground, It also burnt through some wires that ran under the carpet, but everything appeared to be working. Took a good look at the exhaust system, no holes, a little rust, but not bad. The engine doesn't over heat, but I can feel the heat coming oiut from umder the car. . The smell of exhaust inside the truck is very strong, so windows down are a must. We are getting really shitty gas mileage, probably less than 10 miles to the gallon. It sounds like there is a hole in the muffler right at the area where the carpet was burned, but I couldn't find anything. It appears that the heat sheild came off at some point as there are remanants of screws and clamps. Underneath, EVERYTHING is covered in thick grease, but the truck doesn;t seem to be burning oil. its not requiring a lot of coolant, and the oil filter and air filter were changed recently.

May 5, 2012, 12:09 am

Tyler O
Expert Mechanic

Sounds like you have an exhaust leak, some missing heat shields and some oil leaks.

Take it into a muffler/exhaust shop for repairs on the exhaust, have them replace the heat shields too.

An exhaust leak can effect your MPG in a bad way. Did you check if it could be at the exhaust header?

The oil leak should be addressed too. Figure out whats leaking and fix it. It's probably getting oil onto the exhaust, causing some of the smell. A good pressure wash job after the leak repairs would be a great idea.

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