So my daily driver has a little oil leak tucked somewhere up above the oil filter, probably from a gasket. Every now and then when the car gets really hot I can smell the oil burning off the bottom of the engine block. I panic until I remind myself of the non-serious issue.

When I'm out riding my bicycle and I smell oil, I get the same sense of panic and my eyes wander around the drive train, as if I expect there to be oil spurting out from the bottom bracket.

Le sigh.

-Gregory

You should be safe as long as the oil doesn't get on your bike tires.

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Things should be OK as long as the automatic transmission does not begin slipping.

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YOU'RE AN ANIMAL (if you can spin your cranks fast enough to have smoke commin' out the BB)

Since they first came out in 1986 Ford Taurus and Mercury Sable models had/have oil leaks that drip onto the exhaust. The burning oil smell gets in to the car, especially in slow traffic in the summer. Ford has never seen fit to re-engineer the $2.00 oil pan gasket to correct this problem.

I had it on my 2000 Taurus and also on my 2007 so I can appreciate your sensitivity to burnt oil odors.

The smell of liquid asphalt smoke emanating from "tar buggy" trailers carrying hot liquid tar used for roof and road work gets to me too, especially while ridding.

I'm very sensitive to sulfur odors, especially in lubricants. Sulfur is used as an extreme pressure additive in applications that are not exposed to high heat like gear oil and wheel bearing grease.

getting back on the bike topic, I have 2-3 cans of wheel bearing grease that I bought for repacking hubs, BBs and headsets that I can't use because of the sulfur smell.



I've used Phil Wood grease in the green tubes ever since it first came out in the 70's. I use it for greasing cables, seatposts and seat tubes, stems and steerers plus all the nuts bolts and screws when I'm assembling a bike. The light weight (as in viscosity not weight weenie) green grease always had non offensive smell. The last tube that I bought now contains a stinky type of grease.



Riding on a hot day, I can smell it permeating out of my cables and the stem/steerer! YUK!

I'm not really a "The Princess and the Pea" type. I had 6 months of chemo back in 2011-2012. Many people who have received chemo treatment are hyper sensitive to smells and odors (especially fragrances).

verktyg

My car is a '94 Lincoln Mark VIII. Must be a Ford thing of late!

I keep the Royal Enfield in an 8 x 8 shed. I love opening up the door and inhaling the smell of motorcycle.

The smell helps you find it in the dark...




To keep this pertinent to bikes:



Rule Britannia!

verktyg

I love the smell of burning oil in the morning. It smells like...VICTORY!

I have a leather wrap on the steering wheel of my '60 Volvo. After working on it through out the years and test driving it with oily hands, the oil permeated the leather wrap. Now after every drive my hands smell like oil.

I don't know if it's a "sulphur" smell- but I developed a sensitivity to that "grease" smell found in the recent Phil grease a couple of years ago (also Tri-Flow). Couldn't stand it on my fingers- and the smell wouldn't wash off without several washings with soap, dish soap and oxyclean.

FWIW- I got a tube of the Park grease, and it's much less odorous.

Congratulations for getting through it!