sweet smelling vents

[nicholas]

hey everyone,
this morning, upon startup i smelled the sweetness of my engine coolant throught the drivers side vent, for about 2-3 minutes, then it went away .
i have a 00 civic, with 60,000miles.....

i have had the car for two years now, i have drained and filled my rad twice so far, since i bought it.

so far i have only smelled this once, but i will pay more attention to the vents, if this starts to happen more often , what things should i check out.....the dealer told me to change the water pump and TB, around 100,000miles...., so i have lotsa life left...

thanks for the input
nik

 

[Bogatyr]

nicholas,
Usually, if you smell coolant through the ventilation ducts, that would signal a leaky heater core. I'm pretty suprised to hear about this on so new a vehicle, but that's what I'd check out.

Bogatyr

 

[nicholas]

thanks,

its strange because when i turned the knob from cold to heat, the smell went away , and did not come back,

thanks, ill smell around my car more often, i am going on a 5 hour road trip in a few weeks, and i don't want any coolant problems, in the summer heat.....

have a good one, by the way happy 4th , neighbour..
nik

 

[Jim Spahr]

If you are under warranty, be sure to take it to the dealer asap. This job can be a real bear. One emergency road side repair is to re-route the heater hose so it by passes the heater core. This prevents your passenger side floorboard from getting soggy with coolant. It also means you don't have an heater which is not a problem until fall. Also make sure the drain for the heater is not clogged with debris.

 

[Schmoe]

Watch your coolant level. If it starts dropping, get ready to do some work.

 

[porterdog]

Two more things:

1. The vapor from the normal 'green' coolant is reallly toxic. Dunno about what's in your honda, but it's probably not good.

2. Mebbe too-loose clamps on the hoses which feed the heater core?

 

[nicholas]

thanks dudes,

i have not smelled it for about a week now, i turn up the fan, every morning, but nothing....

my fluids look good, but i will do another flush this weekend........

i am what you call a fluid nut, i change every fluid the car has in it .........

thanks for all the helpfull info...
you guys rock...

 

[seotaji]

quote:

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i have drained and filled my rad twice so far, since i bought it.

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i know this is a given, but did you use honda coolant?

 

[Ray H]

quote:

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Originally posted by porterdog:
...The vapor from the normal 'green' coolant is reallly toxic...

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The vapor from any ethylene-glycol (93% to 94% in concentrate form) based coolant/antifreeze product is toxic. Red, Orange, Yellow, Blue, Purple, Amber - not just Green - makes no difference.

Note to nicholas: With the onset of warmer weather, maybe your coolant recovery bottle overflowed a bit (especially if it was overfilled to begin with). If that's the case, underhood air flow might have carried the odor of the spilled coolant through the fresh air ducts and that's what you noticed - no harm, no foul. Look for evidence of overflow (water will evaporate of course, but remaining coolant concentrate will persist for some time on nearby parts or the garage floor)

[ July 09, 2004, 12:41 PM: Message edited by: Ray H ]