I have a 2020 Tundra Platinum with 3000 miles. Today I was driving and all of a sudden I could smell coolant - I have been in cars with a heater core leak. The two other occupants also both made a comment about the smell. The A/C was on at the time. Everything else on the car is normal. I have an OBD-2 scanner and all temps were normal and the evaporator fin temp was 32-35F the entire time and the A/C was working well.
When I got home I looked under the hood and found a small coolant leak where a hose meets the water pump (see pics). The coolant level is 1/2" ABOVE the full line. While I know this is not normal I have a hard time believing that was the source of the smell - It was NOT subtle - it was very obvious and all three of us noticed it at the same time. We were in the car for 2 hours and the smell persisted. I cleaned the dried coolant and drove to the store - round trip about 5 miles and there was a fresh droplet of coolant.
I have an appt for next Saturday and while it's obvious there's something wrong with the seal of that hose are there any other issues that could cause that leak and would account for the very strong smell of coolant in the cabin? Some issue with the heater core or this is just an incidental finding and there's an evaporator leak? I'm just trying to prepare for the inevitable easy blowoff from the dealership of changing the hose and not addressing the real issue.
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