I smell coolant

[jasonvibe]

ALWAYS-When I drive the car for short trips 3- 6 miles and it's just warmed up. I get out and notice the slight fragrance of anti-freeze/coolant. I stick my nose under the hood...It disappears. The coolant level has stayed vitrually the same for 3000 miles(which is all it has). So am I smelling the warmed coolant going into the recovery tank from the rad ? Warm coolant is easier to smell than cold. The tank does have only a short overflow hose. Plus the tank being behind the radiator may add to this. I do have a highly sensitive nose. I was thinking of putting a longer overflow hose on. I never smell this after a good long ride. Or is it a similar smell of the plastic parts warming up? ANYONE else notice this?

[03VibeGT6Spd]

mine stinks only when riding in the passenger seat. it's been like that for the last couple thousand miles.but i havent noticed a loss at the over flow tank or radiator.

[jasonvibe]

The passenger side when outside the car is the side where the water pump is. They do have a "weep hole" for the seal to leak out. Often the drip starts slow. And would take months for the level to drop. If you smell it inside the car? The heater core is on the pass side(I think). But the whole inside would smell. On mine I will just put a longer overflow hose on. And route it way down and not worry...for now. My level when cold has been about 1/2" below the high line. and Still there +/- 1/4".

[JohnC]

This is just my theory...my coolant tank level slowly decreased (1/2" every 3k miles) since the car was new. I looked for external and internal leaks, pressure checked the system and had my engine oil tested...everything was normal. At 36k miles I drained and flushed the sytem, replacing the coolant with Prestone extended life anti freeze (silver jug) the problem of loosing/smelling coolant went away. I believe that it was vaporizing from the overflow resevoir, this would cause the coolant level to drop and a slight smell. Also my original coolant never decreased in strenth even though I only added demineralyzed water and no antifreeze. If you hold a mirror at the resevoir vent and it will fogs it up, this shows the vapor excaping the system. Mine hasn't needed any coolant since I changed to Prestone 15k miles ago.

[mfivvibe]

Hi Dude, I had experiened that smell. Initially on the first 6 months I thought it because my Voltz is still new. After coming to 2 yrs, recently I still smell the fragrance smell again. If anyone have found out and tell the actual facts that will be Good...!!

[jasonvibe]

JohnC, thanks for the info. What you are saying supports my theory. I really smelled it right after I got it(late summer) doing short runs and one time when I was in a hurry a week ago. The car must have had to warm quickly. Then shot the hot coolant into the overflow res. As long as it is the overflow res. giving the smell> as suspected, that is fine. It's down maybe 1/4" from new. But it has turned cold. So a little less showing in the res. when cold is the norm. I'll keep the "silver" Prestone in mind, and in the near future I still have to find some good quality longer hose. I guess the Toyota coolant evaporates rather easy. ALSO, I checked the strength of my antifreeze with a typical eth/glycol tester. Mine is good to better than -40F. Hope I am testing with the proper tool? thanks again, Anyone else???

[joatmon]

I'd say it's probably just the smell coming from the overflow reservoir. I get an antifreeze smell in mine sometimes, but the coolant level hasn't dropped, and after a lot of miles. The main thing is to watch the coolant level, try to track it at the same state , such as cold, after sitting overnight. If you see it change significantly, then definitely get the dealer to check it out, but if the level stays the same, then you're not loosing coolant, even if you can smell it sometimes.

[ColonelPanic]

I've smelled coolant on mine when the engine was warm since the car was a few months old... Particularly gets fragrant during the warmer months. However, I have had to add coolant a few times so far, so it IS going somewhere... Not sure where, nor did the dealer have any clue. They looked at it twice for this and swore up and down that nothing was wrong (pressure tests/etc. were ok.) Since the experts say it's ok, I stopped pursuing resolution of this particular problem. And it will get fixed once whatever is causing it blows up bigtime...