73n95

My 95 coupe puts out a faint antifreeze smell when I drive for a few miles. I smell it inside and its pretty annoying. A can't see any leaks and the coolant level has not gone down that I can see for almost 2000 miles. It doesn't always do it. I am not running with the heat on. My passenger cannot smell it so it must be pretty faint. The car is a recent purchase so i don't know if the PO had a problem or not. From what I've read replacing the heating core is a tough one. I'd like not to tackle this one if there is a fix. Not planning on using it as a winter car so perhaps I could tap off the heater?

blue94

If it is faint I would inspect the usual suspects first, radiator around the plastic tanks, water pump and hoses before looking at heater core.

On my truck I chased the smell for several weeks before finding a weeping radiator tank. Never had a drip spot and only lost about a pint of fluid during that time.

VikingTrad3r

though different engines, my 87 had this for about a year then eventually the heatercores drip grew to a huge leak and the window began fogging.

RWDsmoke

I suggest going to your parts store that has the loaner tools and get a cooling system pressure tester. It will help you find even a small leak. And don't forget to test the radiator cap.

csthews

You don't have to have the heater on for the core to leak. Mine was leaking, I could smell it, but no obvious location..nothing on the ground, no wet/damp passenger-side carpet. It did get to the point where I would see vapor coming out of the defrost vent (with A/C running). One quick check is to pull the passenger kick panel. It is lined with foam insulation. If the core is leaking, the foam will be wet.

exitwound

http://www.kseal.com/uk/k-seal/

I believe GM uses this in new cars under its own part number.. It fixed my wife's mother's Vitara that was losing 5L a week from a cracked head.

hcbph

I agree that pressurizing the cooling system and see if it holds pressure over time would be a good starting point. Another is if you use Prestone Yellow/Green antifreeze, it florescence's under black light. Between the two, if you have a leak I suspect you will be able to track it down.