The sweet smell of.......

[Tom92TY]

ANTIFREEZE!!!!

Does anybody else smell antifreeze when their Sy/Ty is running? I can't smell it while inside the vehicle, but if I get under the hood, there is this heavy smell of antifreeze.

I can remember years back I had a friend who owned a Jimmy and it smelled the same way. What is this an indication of?

 

[grahamstein]

could be many things, have you checked the coolant return line from the turbo, lower radiator hose, ic lines?

 

[dgoodhue]

Re: The sweet smell of.......

What is this an indication of?

Leaking antifreeze. Seriously, it could many things. My Sy had a semi loose heater clamp, my ty had a leaking water pump. Check all your radiator & heater hoses, turbo coolant and IC lines from possible area that may be leaking. A lot of time their will be wetness, but I have also seen green film painted on, when slightly leak is only happen when the radiator is hot.

 

[Tom92TY]

I don't want to make it seem like I don't know how to look for a leak. As far as I know, nothing is leaking. There is never a drip of anything on the concrete, even after I beat on it a bit. I was more wondering if it was typical for these trucks to smell that way. I wouldn't think that to be the case, but I've been wrong many times before. :drinking:

 

[dgoodhue]

I was more wondering if it was typical for these trucks to smell that way. I wouldn't think that to be the case, but I've been wrong many times before. :drinking:

No its not normal. I wasn't talking a long the line of fluid puddling, but more thinking along the line feeling each connection junction. My Ty's water pump wasn't leaking any antifreeze on the ground, it was all hitting the crossover pipe and evaporating.

 

[Tom92TY]

Thanks for the replies, guys!

I'll definitely be rooting around in the engine compartment soon to find out where that smell is coming from.

The guy I bought the Ty from replaced the thermostat the night before I came to pick it up and I thought it was due to that and that the smell would go away after the ride home. It did not go away. Bummer....

 

[grahamstein]

Make sure those thermostat housing bolts are nice and tight, it could be leaking from there and evaporating on your intake manifold. I had that happen to me, and never had anything dripping either.

 

[bezerk]

i still am not a Professional about Sytys, but i have seen 6 till now, and they all smell a little bit like cooling fluid, not inside the cab. but under the hood when the engine is at opperating temp.

I think that the it is mostlikely the intercooler (damn ,, how do you call those in english) >>lid??????

Rene

 

[TyMeUp]

Try this (fluorescent leak detector dye):

http://www.autobarn.net/fluorleakdet.html

If you don't have access to a UV lamp, reflected sunlight using a mirror will also make it glow.

Leak test dyes are available for all automotive fluids. Here's a complete kit:

http://www.autobarn.net/rodi/profuvleakde.html

Check with your local autoparts store for similar items.

 

[Maverick87]

check the coolent overflow . Mine would smell like antifreeze after a launch traced it down to the overflow if it is to full it will spill out .

 

[bdubb]

1st check IC cap. over age they wont hold and leak.

2nd check heater core.

 

[Jimmy]

It's my wife's old truck,the IC cap is new,so is the heater core.My guess is the weep hole on the water pump.

 

[Tom92TY]

Hey, Jimmy, what all did you replace on the truck prior to selling it to Aaron?

I was going to suspect the heater core for my smell, but since you replaced it maybe that's not a good place to start???

 

[Jimmy]

I replaced the plugs,wires,distributor cap,valve seals,heater core,right front axle,IC pump,fuel filter,trans fluid/filter,battery and a new IC cap.
I had the rust on both front fenders and the tailgate repaired and painted.

Look at the crossover tube for the exhaust.Is it white? If it is,then your weephole is leaking.

 

[Don W.]

I didn’t notice if you said you were actually loosing any coolant from the header tank. Under certain conditions coolant can remain in the header tank and the radiator can be low. Check the radiator itself, not the tank, when completely cold (first thing in AM). If low, top-off the rad and also bring the tank to the cold level.

What happens is the line from the header tank to the rad gets air in it and breaks the siphon that is required for the coolant to flow back and forth to the header tank. With the rad topped-off, as the engine warms up coolant is forced into the tank purging any air that might be in the line.

This whole scenario is especially important on a new motor or a coolant change as air is introduced and can be difficult to get rid of. A complete warm-up followed by a complete cool-off , a rad top-off and one final warm-up usually does the trick assuming no leaks. The reason for this diatribe in the first place.

Don

 

[Gnocide]

just a thought, mine did when i first got it but no leaks.the ic seemed to go low on coolent after a month, turns out it was the intercooler leaking inside the throttle body. pull intercooler away from tb to check.pretty sneakey.