I've owned several cars that leaked coolant, and I would be able to call myself an expert in the smell of leaking coolant in the engine bay. Besides having the low coolant, I can smell coolant after a drive. Especially when parked in my garage.
View 2 RepliesMy 2005 chevy silverado 1/2 ton seems to be low a quart of coolant every 2-3 months. First alerted to this during a oil change, check it monthly and need to add a little to the reservoir every other month. The temp gauge never goes over half way. I do smell antifreeze after I shut the truck down after a significant drive, but only if I walk to the front of the vehicle.
View 6 RepliesI just got my 337 a few days ago and I got out today after a short drive and smelled coolant. Immediately thought the worst but luckily I found this hose to be leaking. What hose this is its on the left side just about the throttle.
View 11 RepliesI'm going on my 4th water pump in my 2011 GTI (TSI, PZEV) with 66,xxx on it. Coolant light came on during my drive to work today...My warranty just got up at 60k, so now I have to take things into my own hands. I've done a little bit of research, and have found these two parts from ECSTuning. Which one do I want, and are they different parts? Are they every going to issue some type of compensation for this mess? Four water pumps in 66k miles?
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It might be a bad heater core, but my heater works fine and there is no moisture on my carpet.
Occasionally I'll see traces of steam and smoke enter the car through the vents. I also smell a coolant smell. I was losing coolant very slowly, but the level has been holding.
Now my AC doesn't blow nearly as cold as it once did.
Last night while i was driving my car began to overheat. I could smell coolant burning. I pulled over and opened my hood. The coolant inside the coolant pod was boiling. Some coolant lines were steaming as well. I could also hear a gurgly like noise coming the engine. This is a 1.8t gti
View 3 RepliesI am looking at a 05 GLI 5 speed with 133k miles. I drove it yesterday and it runs fine, but I smelled coolant after I turned it off. I was told by the dealer that the turbo is leaking some, it was spooling while driving and didn't seem to do anything funny. The check engine light came on and said coolant was low when we got back, when I cranked it back up the light was out. Just not sure about it.
View 4 RepliesThe car is my wifes DD. 7300mi, 2.5L I5 auto.
For the last few months whenever I walk past the car I could smell a faint coolant smell near the front of the car. My wife couldn't smell it, so I figured I would just ask the dealer about it when I took it in for the 10,000mi service. Yesterday she gets home saying she could smell it so bad, she also noticed the smell seemed to linger in the back seat when she was strapping the kid in his car seat. I checked under the hood and I can not find ANY sort of a leak whatsoever. At this point I'm thinking of taking it in to the dealer sooner to have them check it out.
Noticed a faint coolant smell on their 2.5L?
Well here we go again. Less than 10K on my 2nd engine and yesterday the car started driving rough and shaking really bad. I thought I blew a tire or something. Then I could smell gas and oil/smoke was blowing out the rear. As I pulled off the road the engine light came on. hooked up my phone and got P0303 #3 cylinder, B2AAA, P0140, P2297. When the tow truck arrived I had to turn the car around so he could hook it up and it stalled 2x and the gas fumes were really bad. He let it sit for a while before heading out due to the concern of the amount of gas you could smell.
The dealer called back a few hours later and said they pulled the plugs and cleared the codes and the car runs great! They can't seem to find anything wrong. I'm a bit confused how I could hardly move the car 20 feet and it was blowing gas and oil out and now its fine. They still have the car as they wanted to just drive it for a while but still as of today they cant find anything. My #3 cylinder is the one that blew last time and now I'm getting the same code with a stock engine with less than 10k on the new block. Something else has to be causing this.
I just got a 2008 Passat and have noticed that after I start the car, for about 10 seconds, I can very faintly smell coolant, it happens when the fan is off or on, and the temp is either on hot or cold. Its not bad, but it is there for short time.
It reminds me of how my older VW's would have a bad heater core, but even that was only noticeable if the heat was ON, this happens heat on or off. Also I see no leaks in the engine of any sort, the car only has 150 miles on it currently.
In my 2006 Civic I intermittently get a dirty gas smell in the interior after I drive and park the car, and then come back a few minutes later and start it. Do I have a gas leak of some kind? I have not noticed a loss in mileage.
View 5 RepliesAs soon as I turn heater on I smells coolant, I checked all over inside cabin there is no coolant liquid inside, I'm wondering if the heater itself is leaking or there is another problem.
View 3 RepliesThis is my second vw I've owned and now I own a 20th ae gti. Just the other day I got out of my car and smelled antifreeze. So I popped the hood and realized there was no coolant in the reservoir.. So I went to my dealership, put some in... well that obviously isn't my problem, because the next day it was gone. Again. This is on sunday so I can't do anything about it. I made an appt to drop it off tonight @ my volkswagen dealer. It's not leaking, not smoking or burning, and the temp gauge isn't moving at all.
View 20 RepliesSo I noticed the smell of burning coolant a day after I got an oil change. My car wasn't overheating and my thermostat didn't jump at all. I open the hood and there's a little bit of smoke. I take it to a mechanic and they do a pressure check. They see dried coolant under the upper hose connecting the engine to the radiator. They tell me its the flange connecting that hose to the engine that's leaking low levels of coolant and it will cost 150 to fix.(not a gasket) I say go ahead. They're in the process of fixing it today and they call me saying "We got the part, and we're going to fix it but we think the thermostat isn't fully opening or closing which is causing the problem and it will be another 150 to fix". Now I looked up this mechanic and they have 12 1 star reviews on Yelp of people saying they were overpriced and the mechanics often piled on things once they got on.
My issue is essentially the mechanic said "This problem could happen again if you don't replace the thermostat" but he also said they're not sure if its a bad thermostat. Couldn't they check the thermostat easily??? Like I said I said besides the leak in the flange I haven't had any issues. The car warms up fine and the temperature NEVER spikes (I had a different car overheat and blow a gasket two years ago cause I didn't notice the temp gauge for 2 miles and I LEARNED MY LESSON) I always keep a careful eye on the gauge.
My question is isn't there an easy way to check the thermostat? The mechanic keeps pressuring me to fix it. Just to be safe I am just having them fix the flange and taking it to a mechanic I trust. (I couldn't take it to him before cause he's on the other side of town and I was paranoid my car wouldn't make it)
95 caprice 4.3L V8 150,000 miles. I smell coolant every time i drive the car (everyday). Drives fine, doesn't overheat. Smell is not inside the car but when I get out and stronger as I walk towards front of vehicle or stick my nose to the grill. Low coolant light came on about 2,000 miles ago. i filled to proper level in the coolant tank and since then only has lost an inch or so. no leaks on the ground but distinct coolant smell every time. Anything to worry about?
View 1 RepliesRecently I've noticed that every time when shifting from park to drive and occasionally from reverse to drive in my 05 Golf GLS, I would have to remain off the gas for 3-4 seconds otherwise the car would jerk forward. If I press on the gas ever so slightly, the rpm would go up to around 1000 then jerk. Why this is happening?
View 2 RepliesI have a 1998 F150 with 14300 plus miles. 4.6 engine. I have been smelling antifreeze after a drive long or short. I have looked for leaks but not finding anything.
View 1 RepliesAfter I've been driving a bit and stop at a red light, drive thru, etc. I've noticed a strong gas smell. I drive with my windows down so I really notice it. I've searched all over the car and can't see any leaking. In addition to this, after I shut the car off for 20-30 minutes, when I re-start it, it runs really rough like its flooded until it clears itself out, along with the gas smell. The consensus seemed to be that its the pressure regulator/vacuum line. Where exactly is that located?
View 10 RepliesI noticed on a few occasions that there is a slight smell of coolant around the front of our Camry after driving it a while. I haven't noticed any decrease in the level in the reservoir.
Since it's a CPO vehicle, I was thinking maybe some coolant was spilled during the inspection process. A little spilled coolant can go a long way, and last a long time.
I have an 03 Explorer with the 4.0 engine. There is a strong smell of coolant and the reservoir does go down slightly once a week or so. There is No Leak whatsoever that I see, I have checked under the hood, under the vehicle, under the dash, everywhere...nothing. Where is the coolant going? This seems to be a common problem, I work at a quick lube and almost all of these explorers are low on coolant when they come in.
View 2 RepliesFor a few months, I smell coolant when I get into the car. I thought it was the food left behind. Finally this morning I saw a small puddle of coolant on driveway. green color as we had a snow/ice storm. Lost about 3/4 inch coolant in expansion tank. still about low on cold freezing day.
I searched through this forum, not a common thing for the heater core.. There were cases about freezer plug not tight..hose clamp not tight. etc
My question is that where is the freezer plug? Any easier way to get to the the heater core.? without taking the whole dash out?
I4 2.4 ....