Slight oil burning smell?

[Forgiven]

I've occasionally noticed the smell of burning oil, it's very faint though and not very often. Anyone else have this issue?

Also, my fan is almost ALWAYS on in my car and i've noticed the motor seems to stay fairly hot most of the time (it's never gone into the dangerous zone). Is this regular with our cars?

My last two questions may seem silly, but I've always owned mtx cars, so i'm new to the whole atx thing/feel. Anyway, fairly often if I step on the gas, even floor it, it doesn't downshift for awhile. Yet fairly often as well, when I do the same thing, it immediately drops a gear and takes off.

I drive the car very conservatively -definately not the speedy type, but occasionally I want to drop a gear to get going for one reason or another and it is a bit irritating when it will fairly often just stay in that gear until the rpms get up there. I realize I could also drop to 3rd or 2nd gear on my own, but I'm nervous and don't want to hurt the tranny. ATX's are very foreign to me.

I had the atx fluid checked not too long ago too and they said it looks good. My car also has 136xxx miles on it.

None of these issues have been a huge concern to me, but I figured I might as well see if anyone has experienced similiar issues, what their outcome was or if I'm just "new" and have nothing to be concerned about :)

[Proven Guilty]

The first thing I would check is if you're actually consuming engine oil. If not...

The burning oil smell could be contributed from a number of things. If your car is a US model equipped for emissions standards, the EGR valve and tube could be blocked up, and recirculating air could be leaking into the ambient under-hood air. Another cause could be dry-rotted and cracked breather hoses - this would also cause leaking intake air to enter the passenger cabin. One more thing I would check is your cabin filter under the glove box. Another member posted a walk-through on how to change/check the cabin filter if you are unsure of the process, just a search button away.

As far as the downshift grandpa mode you're talking about, there is a proceedure that allows you to clear the "grandpa mode" you'll have to look for. It was along the lines of turning the key to the on position, and holding the gas pedal to the floor for 2 minutes to reset the adaptive shifting/throttle body settings. Also, most german cars I've driven have a type of "kickdown" button under the gas pedal. Even with the car is off, if you "put the pedal to the metal" you'll notice, a little more preassure on the pedal and you'll feel a button under the pedal click in. This is more or less a "downshift now" button, in the event you weren't aware.

While not technical and 100% accurate, hopefully it will lead you in the right direction! :D

[anf6789]

about the kickdown button, i just realized that mine was broken, the part of it that actually gets pushed down, i just replaced it and man was it a crazy improvement on my 94 c280. at the end of an on ramp, i push the pedal all the way down and depress the button and im above 65 in like "fast as hell"!, so if your button shows a little metal prong, replace it or if there is nothing you can push don with your hand replace it, cost me 16 bucks, it used to only shift down around on gear at WOT now two