faint coolant smell..

[danielle15]

So, I'm probably just paranoid about this.
Sort life story of the car: bought it in decemeber with 97k on it. They original motor had been replaced by previous owner due to it locking up and the current motor is said to have the same mileage.
Needless to say, after I picked it up we had to do intakes that same week due to the low coolant light being on and a nice puddle by the LIM. So the gasket was changed with the "good gasket" and new elbows and a new t-stat.
The temperature stays constant at its happy place (it never gets hot) and the coolant light never comes on.
But when I get out of the car and walk past, I catch a faint wiff of coolant, almost like a hot engine smell mixed with a little coolant?
I just had the oil changed 2 week ago and it was clean. I just went out and checked the coolant levels and its full and no residue or water evap on inside of caps.
Also, there is no fogging happening on inside of windshield, so I'm pretty sure its not the heater core.

There are also no apparent leak spots under the car after it sits all day while I'm at work.

Am I just being to cautious and thats how they normally smell?
...please tell me my nose is crazy and I'm just smelling things...

[FordMan77]

You probably have a small coolant leak somewhere. Could be waterpump, a hose, or the rad.

I had a mystery leak and it turned out to be the neck cracked on the drivers side right where the hose attaches and would only leak when hot/under pressure. Once it cooled down the crack closed up. Took forever to find that one.

Worse case, get a shop to pressure test the system and see what you find.

[The Guz]

I would also check the coolant elbows. Mine are leaking againafter 3 years of doing the LIM.

[TLSheff]

You probably have a small coolant leak somewhere. Could be waterpump, a hose, or the rad.

^^^ This


I replaced my waterpump a couple months ago and didn't get a good seal in one little area and after running for about 5 mins I accumulate 2 small drops at the TDC of the water pump. Nice and orange on pretty new silver, I was but it happens. I have yet to fix because it hasn't warmed up enough to really need to given the tiny leak, but you can definitely smell that small amount of coolant when the engine is at Optimal Temps

[sportred04]

could be from coolant that leaked when you did your LIMs and is just smelling when it get hot if it didnt get cleaned off. i did mine in december or january and have a slight smell sometimes but no leaks.

[danielle15]

It smelled really strongly after the intakes until it all got burnt off, but then it went away, and I think i smell it again. My boyfriend tells me im smelling things.
As far as I know, well I dont really know but it could be the original water pump that has 101k miles on it. And it better not be the elbows after only 4 months.
I'll see if I can locate some free time this week and go to the local radiator shop and have him pressure test it for me.
I do know that the ac compressor has issues. There is a sticker stating that die was put it the ac system, so we dont know if its from the swap or if it previously had a leak or something. I guess I'll find out come summer time if the air works or not.
It's always something isn't it?

[sportred04]

i wouldnt think the elbows would be leaking after 4 months. i had a very tiny leak, so small that i only noticed it from seeing oily spots in my mirrors at night. turned out to be a bad rad cap. maybe check there