Burning Rubber

[madder]

My friend has a 1996 Hatchback carina E. He was trying to tow me when I had some problems with my own carina recently. My steering lock was unknowingly on and as a result he had to really put a lot into trying to pull the car and uphill too. He heard a noise and then smelt burning rubber or similar. We opened the bonnet and there was smoke coming from a hole in a small part under the bonnet. looked like a rubber part, but as I know little about cars I don't know what part it was exactly. Physically it's appearance was like the folded rubber that surrounds the gear stick in the car only it was much smaller. There was a hole in the top of it and smoke was coming out. The car smelt bad for the rest of the day but the smoke did stop after a while. The car drove fine since but he said it feels a little less powerful . The smoke thing had stopped though but It happened again when he had a heavy load and was driving uphill.

Can anyone tell me what it is and how it can be fixed and if it costs much? Thanks

[garethpaul]

who's car was the burning smell coming from? the car doing the towing or the car being towed?

my guess is that it was the car towing and it was the clutch burning.

[madder]

It was the car towing alright, and we did suspect the clutch burning, and worse that the clutch was only replaced a month ago! But ther was a hole and smoke coming from under the bonnet as described above? Can anyone tell me about that?

If it was the clutch burning and nothing else what does that mean now? Will the clutch need to be done again now, or should it be ok for a while yet? Considering it was only just done recently. But that car has lost some power since this incident and now burns a little when carrying a heavy weight uphill.

[garethpaul]

The hole you mention is probably the dust boot around the opening for the clutch fork. Burn your clutch and smoke will come out of there - it's really the only way out for the smoke.

If it's a new clutch you may be lucky - hopefully it's just been glazed from the heat and will clean itself up over time. Try taking it easy for a bit and see how it goes.

[madder]

Thanks a lot Garethpaul. Much appreciated.