Strong Coolant Smell

[The X Man]

Hi,

I took my Series 2 piece of **** for a 500km holiday (250kms each way) and on the way back i could smell coolant. Everything looked normal on the temperature department so i kept going. When i got home i turned on the airconditioning and it was rank, strong smell of coolant so i checked the carpets on the passenger side for any leaks to which it's all dry.

I have a suspicion the heater core is leaking but if there is no wet carpet where the f*ck is the coolant going? Are there any other tests to determine if it's the heater core?

Yes, the car is only 1.5yrs old and done 25,000Kms so will be a warranty claim however they can't get it in until later next week, not sure if i should be driving it.

 

[tom333]

how do you know youre losing coolant? is the coolant level actually going down?

 

[The X Man]

I'm not sure what the level of coolant was before so unable to make comment on that at this stage. What i do know is that i can smell it quite badly when i turn on the heater or aircon.

 

[MYVESSV8]

rank smell could be blocked/partly blocked drain on A/C heater box, this could be leaving a small amount of water in there and it is going rank as you call it after a while (even a day/or overnight) no fresh air flow to clear out picking up smell from the stale moisture in the box

 

[The X Man]

It isn't a stale smell. It smells like hot coolant, like when a car overheats however it isn't overheating.

 

[vncruzr]

mate check the heater hoses on the drivers side near the fire wall...holden had a revise of the hoses as the were crap and leaked.....had to change the ones on my misses sv6 a couple months ago...same deal.....very strong smell of coolant as it was dripping on the headers...not enough of a leak to make a difference in the coolant level but enough to make it smell absolutely horrid...good luck