Smelling antifreeze

[randotheking]

I'm smelling antifreeze outside of the car and in the engine bay. No obvious signs of leaks and coolant level remains stable.

Any ideas? Should I be worried?

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[usgiorgi]

If you're smelling it, obviously it's being burned. hopefully it's just leaking on the exhaust manifold. Does the tailpipe smell sweet?

 

[Roger Blose]

I had the same issue with my2018 GT. Very slight smell, slight drop in the overflow bottle every two weeks, and zero drips. My dealer found that the radiator had a bad side tank crimp which was only leaking when hot and sending steam out without dripping. I had the radiator replaced at 7K under warranty. All is good now.

 

[randotheking]

I had the same issue with my2018 GT. Very slight smell, slight drop in the overflow bottle every two weeks, and zero drips. My dealer found that the radiator had a bad side tank crimp which was only leaking when hot and sending steam out without dripping. I had the radiator replaced at 7K under warranty. All is good now.

Where is the overflow?

 

[Roger Blose]

These radiators have crimped plastic side tanks on each side of the aluminum radiator with a rubber gasket between the tanks and the metal main radiator. The dealer took off the front belly pan to examine the entire radiator to find the leak.

 

[randotheking]

These radiators have crimped plastic side tanks on each side of the aluminum radiator with a rubber gasket between the tanks and the metal main radiator. The dealer took off the front belly pan to examine the entire radiator to find the leak.

Same on the PP? PP radiator is bigger

 

[Roger Blose]

Not sure but I bet they two radiators are from the same vendor. My leak was on the driver's side so the smell was more evident when backing into my driveway. If you keep topping off the de-gas bottle with coolant, it has to be going somewhere. I had no drips because the hot coolant was steaming out into the air a slow rate.

 

[Slyfox]

Any puddles on the ground? I had the smell and very small puddles under the car ,ended up being leaking water pump . Just a thought

 

[Cobra Jet]

Check the small hoses going to the coolant bottle.

Many folks have reported finding either the small hoses had splits, the clamps were loose or the actual bottle nipple was damaged. Even if such damages exist, you may not find any puddles or huge wet spots on the ground or under the hood because the leak is so small, it’s burning off but leaving that residual sweet odor...

Another area to check is the water pump. That’s a common failure point where coolant will weep out of the weep hole down the front of the engine block. At first it may be small where again the coolant is being burned off by the heat of the engine, but over time it will get worse and start to leave visible drops or puddles under the car.

 

[ApplesAndOranges]

I just replaced my timing chain tensioners this weekend and low and behold, after wrapping up the job, I discovered a tiny leak right in the upper passenger side of the radiator. it was never removed, only leaned on. Coolant will slowly collect in the rad fins and then evaporate off once the engine is up to temperature.

 

[Ghost50]

Interesting.

I’ve smelled this on mine too - enough a couple times where I popped the hood after parking to check if I had a leak.

I’ll keep this in mind should it pop up again.

 

[Lime1GT]

Where is the overflow?

He's talking about the coolant reservoir where you check the coolant level. Check your owners manual for reference. If your smelling coolant you should take it in to have the system pressure checked for leaks. Sometimes the leak can be from the coolant tank or hoses connected to them.

 

[DavisCustoms]

Another thought to consider, the coolant fill cap is designed to hold a certain pressure within the cooling system (to raise the boiling point of the coolant),
as such if you are smelling coolant at times, but there are no leaks present and you are not having to top off the coolant tank, you may have a defective/damaged cap that is venting pressure thus the smell of coolant is present.

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