Hello,

I have a 2001 Dodge Dakota Quad cab SLT 4x4 w/ 5.9L & automatic transmission. I had a strange/scary experience Thursday a.m. when preparing to take short trip. It was in the teens and I started truck up to let it run for about 10 minutes before I took off. It has had some problems lately but I won't go into them right now but can provide additional info if needed. It started up and I ran back into house to finish last minute things. When I went back out I smelled a very strong burning odor - akin to someone burning unseasoned wood. I live in rural area and assumed that was exactly what smell was, although I am wary of the truck due to its current unknown problems.

Got in cab - no problems as far as warning lights and gauges all good. Interstate access is about one mile from my house. At stop sign entering intersection, it did not seem to want to pull out - lack of power. Pulled into gas station on other side of road, popped hood and saw nothing. Turned it off. Could still smell the burning odor but not as strong as at my house. Started truck up again and a plume of white smoke came out of engine compartment at firewall. Left it running and popped hood again. White smoke is rolling up from rear of engine compartment - white and a lot of it. The smell is awful and can't say I've smelled the odor before concerning vehicles. It was dark and couldn't really see where smoke was originating but was sure it was going to catch fire. Turned it off again. Called party I was to meet for trip. Decided I would try to get it back home. It seemed to be missing or trying to stall but didn't die. I have a slight grade to my driveway, nothing severe, and it didn't seem to want to pull it. Managed to get it back to driveway, turned it off and kept eye on it. It continued to billow smoke for 15-20 minutes after shut off.

Once daylight, started it up again (it started easier than usual - one of the problems its experienced of late). I checked the engine over thoroughly - no signs of leaks/moisture/burning/charring anywhere visible. I feared smoke was coming from intake manifold/throttle body area but it is completely clean in that area. Distributor clean as well. Went around truck completely...looking under for signs of burning/leaks, anything abnormal. Saw nothing at all. Tailpipe is clean, no residue, no smoking, no odd smells. It ran during this time with no smoking, no additional foul odor, no stalling. It doesn't sound to be running exactly right to me - had vehicle for 10 yrs and am only person driving it on regular basis. However, not running poorly enough to concern me. Revved motor both by punching gas and by applying steadily increasing pressure to gas. No problems such as obvious missing or backfiring. No warning lights, no gauge read problems.

I decided to put it in gear and back it up to my usual spot from where I parked it earlier (away from house). After I moved it, noticed a lot of black stuff in area where it had set. Examining it, appeared to be some sort of material but was completely black and ash. I did find one small piece of this material that was left unburnt. It looks like fiberboard - brown in color. It is about 1/8" thick, hard and was dry. It has an obvious machine cut to it. The odor is definitely what I smelled during the burning/smoking. I have no clue what this material is, where it would be used on truck, IF it is part of my truck's makeup or foreign material and can't see where it came from. I have no ramps so there is that one area exactly under motor that I can't see without front end elevated. I have a picture I will send along though I'm afraid the quality is not great, best I could manage.

I am looking at a 20+ mile tow to garage and am hoping someone will know what this material is and what could be problem with my truck. I'm afraid to drive it not knowing what is going on with this burning situation and fear I'll damage something more or it will break down completely.

Any help on this would be much appreciated! Thanks in advance!

 

Looks like the insulation attached to the firewall to lower the heat transfer to the cab. My guess, if that's what it is, got loose and was laying against one of the exhaust collectors and got too hot. At which point it finally fell off.

 

Yeah thats prob what happened i've heard of hood insulation doing the same. It starts to fall apart then it will fall when you are drivin and can catch fire mine was almost to that point so I just tore mine out looks much cleaner anyway.

 

Thanks for the help guys! I checked hood insulation and there's none torn/falling/burned. Hood insulation isn't really necessary - is firewall insulation something I should expect to have torn out and replaced because it's important? Is it okay to drive it if that's the problem? I want to run it around a bit and see if it how it does. Hopefully what would burn got burned and I won't have repeat. Will take it in to garage in the a.m. and let them put on rack and take a look.

 

Got any squirrels (4 legged kind) in the neighborhood? I'v had to clean out many strange places in my cars and trucks over the years. A lady down the street feeds them and I've a black walnut tree in my back yard. Might as well have a golden arches over my house.

 

Yes, plenty of wildlife - property is about 100 yards from National Forest, but rarely see squirrels or other such creatures as I guess they have plenty in their forest homes and the very large pet cats in the neighborhood make dinners of any that wander into the community. Will be 5 yrs May I've lived here and two of those years my truck was started and moved about once a week or every other week at most due to my having sustained a serious back injury and not getting out much. Nothing set up house and it worries me if it turns out to be a nest of some sort or animal damage, as the culprit is likely rabid-crazy. I drove the truck Wednesday at 4 p.m. and the fire happened at 6 a.m. the next morning. Fast work by a crazy forest animal...be about my luck! haha

Having little luck getting it checked out today - garages are all swamped and/or short-handed it seems. Got snow coming tomorrow and I'm not sure how safe it is to drive very far/long. One garage said I shouldn't drive it at all as it wasn't "safe" but OK to drive it their garage when they find time to look at it. HMM. lol