Inside and Out - burning smell

hey lately ive been getting this off and on again burning smell that gets pretty bad. It was a lot worse before I changed my cabin filter and now that i did change it, about 50% of the smell went away. Here are some things Ive observed.
The smell is coming from the vents. The engine does not smell like that, nor do my fog / headlights. Smells like plastic burning? Only occurs hours after I have turned the air on, recirculation button, defogger,etc. Smells when the air is set to cold or warm - doesn't matter which. Thanks

Maybe the vent fan (that might not be the right name, I'm on cold meds and my brain isn't working right) motor is trying to overheat on you. Could be worth a check, but I'm not sure how much of the dash you would have to dismantle to get to it.

if my head light harness/wiring is burning - wouldnt the lights dim or not work?

It depends... as heat goes up, so does resistance. As resistance across a circuit goes up, the voltage each load (including the resistance in the wiring itself) receives goes down. It could be that the wiring is burning the insulation, which wouldn't necessarily mean more resistance across the circuit (yet).

My guess would be more towards the blower motor overheating since you said the engine/headlights don't smell like it.

would the blower motor smell like burning plastic?
is the blower motor on when the recirculation button is on?

and why is it that it only smells like it sometimes and then goes away?

when i changed the cabin filters, the smell went away for weeks... and then it came back.

and how and where is the blower motor (01 civic)

Honestly, I don't know what an overheating blower motor would smell like (not having ever had to deal with one); if it's overheating, it could be melting wires/wire insulation, which would smell sort of like burnt plastic.

where is it located anyways?

I believe it's under the passenger side of the dash, but I'm not 100% sure on it.

*ninja edit: confirmed. supporting evidence (http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_do_you_change_out_a_blower_motor_on_a_honda_ci vic) :D

okay, i will look at this tomorrow. thanks again

The blower motor is behind the glove box. It can be removed by taking out three screws and disconnecting the connector. Might as well remove debris like leaves and mouse nests that have accumulated in it over time. Also check the recirculation and mode control motors under the dash.

how much would it cost to get something like that replaced? and how will i know that it needs replacing?
and i have an 01

hey i drove around with the AC, recirculation, headlights on today for a few hours and there was no smell... could it be that something got caught and is burnt off?

possibly... or it could simply be an intermittent problem (which is usually frustrating to diagnose). As far as the cost of replacing a blower motor, all you'd really need to do is buy a new/used/refurbished one; it should be easy enough to replace that you don't have to pay someone to do it. Like Ronj said, it's 3 bolts, and if you take the glove box off to gain easier access (which I'd recommend), an additional 2 bolts.

how would i know the blower motor is blown? blackness?

If it's blown, it won't run.

Hook it directly to battery power and let it run for a few minutes to see whether the motor produces the burning smell.

so if its blown, my, fan and AC wouldnt have worked?

so if its blown, my, fan and AC wouldnt have worked?

Blown implies the motor does not work or is destroyed. If the blower works, it could still have an electrical problem that produces a burning smell, suggesting it is on the way out.

ic. thanks. on my year's model (01) the screws are facing downward and i didnt have the tool or anything to remove them. I did take apart my new cabin filters and started the motor with the ac and all that while the glove box was out and it was still spinning, but I will definitely keep my nose out for anything in the future. I'm confident that as long as its not a continual smell it'll be okay,thanks

[quote=burgernuds;621287...on my year's model (01) the screws are facing downward and i didnt have the tool or anything to remove them.[/quote]

I believe a Phillips screwdriver is all you need.

actually now that i havent gotten this smell for a few days - im starting to think that maybe my midpipe (sp2 hangs really low) could have caught plastic or something every time I smelled something? There appears to be some yellowing at some spots on the stainless steel which looks like it was burnt. Another thing is that it never happens when I'm leaving from home - only when im parked somewhere public. is this theory logical to anyone?

my friend had this same problem we couldn't figure it out till we jacked the car up and found a burnt plastic bag wraped around the exhaust .

hey the smell came back very faintly in the rain. I don't think I had a bag underneath my car, but I did turn on the rear window and front window defroster... I didn't actually turn the air on, just the nobs and button to on.
I had the AC on for hours a few days ago and there was no smell.

Maybe the heat elements of the rear window defroster are burning something, such as the window tint.

but the smell is coming through the vents?
does the blower motor actually turn on when the nob is switched to defrost (front)

but the smell is coming through the vents?
does the blower motor actually turn on when the nob is switched to defrost (front)

That wouldn't fit if the smell is coming from the vents. When you are in defrost mode alone with fan OFF, the blower obviously doesn't run, but I think that recirculation is turned OFF and air comes from the outside.