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Coolant Smell in the morning 9 degrees out

1K views 17 replies 8 participants last post by  hkayssi 
#1 ·
For the last few days when it's really cold out I have noticed a coolant smell in the car blowing out the air ducts into the cabin, anyone else notice this with there car and do you guys think its a problem?
 
#7 ·
Monitor your coolant level and do not be above using a little stop leak as nesessary, Area. A little "leak" could develope at the matrix O rings..
 
#8 ·
wonkyhamster said:
Now here's a thought! Put some cologne in the coolant and if you smell it in the cabin you will know it is leaking somewhere. This doesn't really help the problem but it will make it smell better:lol:. - Sorry!
lol...

Back in the day I was a lineman with Ma` Bell. We had (Still Have) old lead cable with paper sheathed copper pairs. There are 2600 pairs of brown, paper wrapped "pairs" in the sheath. The miles of cable are kept dry by means of giant air compressors in the Central office that keep the cable pressurized to 10psi. We use to pump blue "smoke" into the cable and walk it looking for leaks. It worked great. :cheesy:
 
#9 ·
I'm not against stop leak or other products one bit. The problem is my coolant looks pretty thick as it is because its brownish/greenish. The temp gauge indicated that it was almost completely warm today and I started smelling the coolant smell but the coolant level was fine and the SID never lit up. Kind of an annoying problem.
 
#10 ·
The coolant level can drop 1 mm - no man can detect this - but if he smells coolant from the heating system...... I'd check the lower drain (elephant's nose)..

And if the engine coolant is "brownish-green" - is that not a good reason to change it ???
But not in this weather :cheesy:
 
#12 ·
The drain is a short rubber hose that comes out of the firewall, and is open on the bottom. If your heater core is leaking, you'd likely see it here.


If any of your main coolant hoses look questionable, its advisable to replace them before you have a failure. The extreme heat cycling that they receive in the winter time can accelerate their demise. The upper radiator hose is the most likely to fail, followed by the heater core hoses and lower radiator hose.
 
#13 ·
Must be something in the air this winter... :p

I was having the same issue, though the source of mine was a bit more obvious..

Just drove my 95' 900S 2300 miles back to MI from the west.. Developed a small leak in the upper radiator hose around Denver.... Thankfully some duct tape held me to Detroit :D

Replaced all the coolant system hoses since I was going to do the main, and havent had that lovely smell since :) (The smell disappeared after the lower Radiator hose which, after removing, was just beginning to crack).

Cheers!
 
#14 ·
area51 said:
I assume you are speaking of the lower radiator house which I noticed a little ballooning on.
Please change this hose ASAP- this ballooning is a sure sign of impending disaster...Change the heater and upper as well ,if necessary.
 
#15 ·
earthworm said:
Please change this hose ASAP- this ballooning is a sure sign of impending disaster...Change the heater and upper as well ,if necessary.
Will do. On another note, I think I will retorque the headbolts myself on this in a couple weeks. Will it hurt anything if I use new headbolts at that time? They are pretty cheap and for some reason would give me piece of mind.
 
#16 ·
If you retorque the head and replace the boltsa look for a thread by nocluetim he did this recently and the thread was really good.

If I were you, I'd replace all the radiator, heater core hoses and replace the thermostat if it wasn't replaced recently. If one is bad the others will go soon after. If you blow a hose the towing would cost more than the hoses and clamps and that's if you're lucky and don't blow the head gasket if a hose blows on the highway. Use the good clamps aw ewell not the ones that have noches in; those dig into the ribber and ruin it.
 
#18 ·
area51 said:
Stupid question, what is the differences between the 82 degree and 89 degree thermostat
The thermostat is closed when the car is cold; it opens when it reaches temperature of 82 degrees (4 season thermostat) or 89 degrees (winter thermostat) Basically it allows the heater to get hotter faster before the thermostat opens. I personally would thew 82 degree thermostat (I'm lazy and don't like swapping the thermostat every 6 months :lol: )
 
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