Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting Coolant smell

After running the air conditioner for awhile then putting it on the FAN setting an antifreeze smell comes through the vents. Coolant level is fine, and the car never gets past the halfway mark on the gauge. Its not a strong smell, but but it definately smells like coolant. Should I worry about this?

leaking heater core?

There is nothing leaking inside or under the hood, thats what I thought at first too. My truck did it once, and I had a pool of the stuff in the floor on the passanger side. Everythings dry.

Might be a pinhole leak in the heater core.

It doesn't take much in the system to get the coolant smell...I had a heater core on another FoMoCo product that seeped just a little bit. Didn't think it was the core though for the same reason...no puddle inside. I was wrong...

You could always run a heater core bypass if you wanted to check for sure, but if you had any seepage at all, you will smell it in the ventilation system for a while.

Ok, guess I will get it checked out sometime. Thanks for the input guys.

I had a coolant smell inside and outside last summer. No leaks anywhere apparent. The smell went away after I replaced the pressure cap on the coolant reservoir.
Just a thought.