I have a 2004 Mazda 6 Wagon (44K miles) that I absolutely love but in the past 2 weeks, a bad smell and wisps of white smoke have begun emminating from the front or driver's side of the engine. I can smell it at stops and in slow traffic but seems to disappear almost immediately after stopping the car so I'm having trouble locating the source amoungst all the plasticy bits.

I changed the oil about 500 miles ago and I am careful and experienced in this. I have checked the level and it's spot on. I have checked the Power Steering fluid which looks fine, full to dipstick line and smells normal.

Smell is kind of an oily electrical smell. No other performance changes are noticed but I'm planning a trip in two weeks.

Has anyone else had a similar experience and what were the findings?

 

Not on a Mazda, but many years ago on a Renault 12. Your description brought back keen memories. Get your battery checked quick because if that's what it is, when they do that they soon crack the case and you'll get acid all over everything within a foot or so of it.
The other cause for this is the altenrator; it's rare for them to fail in this mode, but they can, and in such cases they "overachieve", eventually cooking the hell out of both themselves and the battery. Be quick, and don't take a long trip without resolving this!

 

Thanks for the suggestion.

I found the problem, it was a very slight weeping drip from the oil filter, onto the exhaust manifold/down tube.

I recall now that when I last changed the oil the filter was really hard to get off and I didn't have access to it with my various filter wrenches so I must have over-compensated by not tightening the filter enough.

The leak was so subtle that it never hit the ground so there was no clue. This drip only ran down the bottom of the filter and was completely consumed/burnt off on the hot muffler pipe.

Anyway, good news and I've cancelled the appt with my local shop.

Go Mazda reliability!