Thread: Coolant smell

Well, here goes. I am going to start from the beginning and for some of you who helped me on other threde there may be a lot of repitition, but I think it is therapy to tell the story. And for what it is worth, the car has never overheated.

2006 Grand Prix GT. I drove it for years. The coupe years I smelled coolant but never had to add any. I did have issues with no heat at times and a gurggling with acceleration. I treated this with flushing the heater core. It would work for a few months, then I had to do it again. I did this for the last 2 years without a problem.

Then the smell got stronger last spring. Took to a shop and they showed me a slow leak in the radiator. I replaced this and the thermostat and radiator and went back to smell without coolant loss. Still had coolant smell and gurggling on acceleration.

Then 2 months ago noticed coolant smell in the car and coolant loss. Inspection showed a little coolant below the water pump. So I replaced the heater core and the water pump. This did not fix the problem of coolant loss or the sound. I had heat though.

So I bought a dye test, pressure tester, and block tester. Tested the block. No exhaust gas in the coolant. Put the dye in and no dye in oil. Saw a leak on the side of the LIM. Thinking coolant could leak there, with the help of this site, I replaced the LIM and the elbows. Found the problem finally, one of the elbows had a crack in it.

Got the car back together and have been driving for 2 weeks. Car runs perfect, no gurggling, good heat, no hesitation (problem I was not worried about, but it is gone now - I think from replacing the vacuum lines)

But...Still have a coolant smell after a drive. I can not smell it inside the car, but as soon as I get out I smell it. For the first two trips after I did all the work I had to add a small amount of coolant, but none in the last week. Pressure test drops maybe 1mmHg in 30 minutes.

So am I crazy? Scratch that, I know the answer to that.

Should I be concerned? I see no coolant anywhere in the engine compartment. The smell is from the side of the water pump. Hot or cold - no coolant on engine. Just that dang smell.

Ive noticed that the smell usually is a result in coolant that made still reside on the engine some where cooking away.. it usualy smells like that for a month until it burns away.. I smelled the same thing in my 07 after doing a heavy duty flush and burping of air in the system.. Its almost impossible to do a coolant change properly without getting some coolant somewhere on the engine lol