I have had a Burning Smell on the right side of my '03 F150 off and on for over a year now. It smells Like Electrical. I replaced the Blower fan and resistor and still smelled , but went away a month later. Drove 50 miles Saturday and when I got
out I thought the truck was on fire. Opened the hood, No Smoke , Just Massive Electrical Smell. Just drove 3 miles to Lowes and back. Same Thing. Alternator isn't real hot and puts out 14 volts at idle. Turned the heat off to stop A/C compressor.
Still Smell it. Has 90 K Miles on it. Any Ideas?

 

Have you checked for pieces hanging on the exhaust system? Check the starter motor as well as cables going to it.

 

Bad ground.......... Electrical equipment is grounding back through other circuits... Creating a burning electrical smell...

Hobo

 

I jacked it up today. Nothing underneath burning. I do have a pretty good oil leak on the right side. Could it be oil I'm smelling? It smells electrical and I've had Many cars that leaked like a sive & didn't smell this. Does Synthetic smell different.
I looked at the grounds, Hobo. There may be something to that. Maybe I could run another ground from the battery to the frame. But it Starts Great.

 

The reason you guy's hear me harp on "grounds" so much is.... I spent my working years as a welder, in the field... When welding on heavy equipment it was imperative to attach my ground clamp as close to my work as possible. I have witnessed other welders who did not want to roll out a lot of ground lead and would ground on the closest thing to their service truck and drag the hot lead 30' to weld on the back of a piece of heavy equipment. I've witnessed a lot of burned up wiring and components in my time... In the refineries, if the welder did not ground as close as possible to his work, he would be escorted to the gate to wait for his final paycheck.. My "Ground Phobia" has been explained.

Hovbo

 

I am with you there hobohilton. My son does pipelines and other stuff in the oil fields and he says the same thing as you do.

 

Yes the oil leak makes a bad smell not unlike electrical depending on the type of oil your using. But I also agree with the ground issue. I purchased my truck in October and had intermittant electrical issues. After adding two heavy duty new grounds straps my issues have been solved.

 

Where did You add the grounds? Block to frame? Battery to Body?

 

Well, It looks like it's leaking from the back of the head. The truck won't fit in my garage And it's too cold outside to do it yet. Any idea how long I can drive it like this? Any other options?

 

Which head?
Most of the time it is the passager side where the high-pressure oil comes into the head at the back of the head. As long as you keep a check on your oil, drive it. The valve cover gaskets are just not that good and if and when you take it off you will see what I mean.
That same head had a bad time with head gaskets as well. The 2000 model was to fix that head, but Ford did not know how many heads or which line made the mistake on the heads they say.
I have never seen a rear main seal leak on one of these that are even over 20 years old. Not saying they will not leak, just I have never seen or even heard of it.