I bought a 1999 Honda Civic a few months back that now has ~15,000 miles and now smells like burning rubber during and after normal driving? Its exists in the engine bay as well as outside the tailpipe.

I have also noticed that the car does not start as easily as it should, especially in cold weather, and the rpms surge just a bit when it starts. Also, the gas mileage has been subpar, averaging around 16-18 MPG in city driving, but I expect it to be a bit better.

In addition, the temp gauge sometimes indicates really high engine temperatures.

The car did sit for awhile outide in Florida (i.e. lots of heavy rain and heat and humidity).

I am thinking it could be one of two things:

1) The Cat is dieing.
2) Something is wrong with the ignition system, either I need new spark plugs or perhaps the ECU is not properly controlling this function?

Does anyone have any idea on what may be going on here?

 

It might be the fan belt that may be what's causing the car to smell like burning rubber and the engine over heating. My car has done that once and it was a problem with the fan belt.