I Smell Coolant

[Kyle Keller]

So this has been happening for a little while now but it happens sporadically I don't know what it could be. Sometimes when I get out of my truck you can smell that sweet coolant smell, and sometimes it doesn't smell. The gauge runs fine (my scangauge gives me a 195-205 temp rating constantly) and the coolant level hasn't dropped any from the overfill tank or radiator. Using heat, using A/C or not doesn't really effect whether the smell is apparent or not.



Any thoughts?

 

[Jerry Gerner 2]

Could be coming out the over-flow res.'s cap when you bounce around too much, I know I'll have some come out of the res. if I hit the right bumps. I'd check all the usuall places-rad. hoses, heater core hoses, t-stat housing and lines, radiator itself. There's a prduct out there you can buy cheap that you put in coolant system and use a black light to detect leaks. Hopefully this helps.

:banana:

 

[EddieS'04]

Posible lower t-stathousing small leak. Or the rad cap is weeping from a weak spring.

 

[MARVIN McINTYRE 2]

Or maybe it could be a small crack in the plastic tank/housing that covers both sides of the radiator. I have a small (now bigger, but still small as far as leaking coolant out ) leak on the side of the plastic tank/housing so I think you might want to check that also.Just a FYI:banana:

 

[Kyle Keller]

But if the coolant was sloshing around or me having a leak wouldn't that slowly drain my coolant level? Like this has been happening for atleast a month and my coolant level has remained the same. I've put atleast a 1,000 miles on it since i first detected it and the level has remained the same.

 

[Jerry Gerner 2]

Not if it's a very slight leak like Eddie suggests or if if it's just sloshing alittle up out of the resevoir.

 

[zaffo oxnard]

I have a 2001 with 86,000 miles on it and have the same issue. It is hot coolant smell, not cold coolant smell from the resivior.



I will replace my radiator cap as an easy thing to check as a result of reading this post. Now that I think about it, the smell is coming from further forward than the firewall, and I was thinking maybe a bad hose/thermostat/radiator, but I don't loose coolant and never see dripping. I think the weak radiatror cap spring may be an issue. If it is weak, it will be venting hot coolant back into the recovery tank and causing the smell.





interesting!

 

[Gavin Allan]

My motorcycle was doing this last summer- same symptoms. I finally went through and tightened all the hose clamps and the smell went away. I never found a leak and the coolant level never seemed to go down on my bike, but I definately had that hot coolant smell.

 

[Todd Z]

Thermostat housing....



Todd Z

 

[TomT]

Hopefully not the heater core. Probably not if your only smelling it on occasion. If so DO NOT get a Ford replcement. I went through 3 heater cores on my old Expediton in a 2 year period before they put in an aftermarket core that worked. Ford heater cores suck, at least they did 5 years ago.