Two months ago, the smell of coolant began to come in thru the ventilation system. This only happens when the car has been driven, the cooling system has pressurized, and the car has been parked and restarted. It's also a very short-duration thing -- after restarting the car, the smell of coolant comes in thru the air vents for a minute or less, then stops. And, BTW, at this point, we're talking about a small amount of coolant loss -- like maybe 1/2 ounce every 100 miles.
My guess is, when the system is pressurized, the leaking coolant is dripping onto something that gets hot very fast after restart -- like the block -- and is quickly burned off.
The thing is, there's never even been a drop of coolent under the car. And -- Thank You, Car Gods -- no coolant is blowing out the tailpipes, either.
But the fact is, about 6 months ago, I had an overheat situation. The thermostat failed 5 minutes after I left my home and was merging onto the freeway. The shut-down of the A/C alerted me to the problem. But by then, the temp gauge had redlined. I popped the hood release, cranked the heater and blower to max just for the hell of it, and immediately bailed off the freeway. Less than a mile later, I shut the car down.
So, what are the odds that I'm looking at either a blown head gasket or a warped head?
