Ben in TN

My wife drives a 2000 Excursion with a little over 80k miles and recently I
have smelled the sweet smell of anti-freeze just after it's started. Seems
like I smell it more if it has sat and cooled for 30 minutes or so and when
she restarts it the smell is pretty strong. It's not so noticeable at the
exhaust pipe after it has been running for a short period. So I'm curious
if any of you have gone through this and is the headgasket being blown the
only possible cause? I checked the anti-freeze level the other day in the
radiator and appeared to be full. So if it's burning anti-freeze it's not
burning much. How much is this likely going to cost? Thanks much for the
info in advance.

Ben

 

351CJ

"Ben in TN" <sea-doo@wolfplayer.us> wrote in message
news:u5KIf.35$ZW1.21@fe06.lga...
> My wife drives a 2000 Excursion with a little over 80k miles and recently
> I have smelled the sweet smell of anti-freeze just after it's started.
> Seems like I smell it more if it has sat and cooled for 30 minutes or so
> and when she restarts it the smell is pretty strong. It's not so
> noticeable at the exhaust pipe after it has been running for a short
> period. So I'm curious if any of you have gone through this and is the
> headgasket being blown the only possible cause? I checked the anti-freeze
> level the other day in the radiator and appeared to be full. So if it's
> burning anti-freeze it's not burning much. How much is this likely going
> to cost? Thanks much for the info in advance.
>
> Ben
>

Sounds like you have a pin hole leak in your heater core, which resides
inside the passenger compartment under the dash.
That is generally the only way that pretty strong smell of anti-freeze will
be in the passenger compartment with you...

Ben in TN

> Sounds like you have a pin hole leak in your heater core, which resides
> inside the passenger compartment under the dash.
> That is generally the only way that pretty strong smell of anti-freeze
> will be in the passenger compartment with you...

I'm afraid the smell is coming from outside the vehicle. Like when my wife
has just started the Excursion as walked around it. I just had her start it
while I was back at the exhaust and there is the slight sweet smell. Very
slight but, i'm fairly sure it smells like coolant. So I'm not sure what
I'm going to do next.

Ben

SnoMan

On Wed, 15 Feb 2006 15:53:59 -0600, "Ben in TN"
<sea-doo@wolfplayer.us> wrote:

>> Sounds like you have a pin hole leak in your heater core, which resides
>> inside the passenger compartment under the dash.
>> That is generally the only way that pretty strong smell of anti-freeze
>> will be in the passenger compartment with you...
>
>I'm afraid the smell is coming from outside the vehicle. Like when my wife
>has just started the Excursion as walked around it. I just had her start it
>while I was back at the exhaust and there is the slight sweet smell. Very
>slight but, i'm fairly sure it smells like coolant. So I'm not sure what
>I'm going to do next.
>
>Ben
>


Are you loosing coolant? Also does oil look okay and has the engine
been hot? Something you can do while you sort this out is to install a
lower pressure radiator cap. I have been running them for years and I
have do had any problem for them and they extend hose life and when a
leak happens, it is a lot less agressive.

Whitelightning

"SnoMan" <admin@snoman.com> wrote in message
news:40k7v1hrgkkkl78us6dti4l4mf0fvhd6uo@4ax.com...
>
> Are you loosing coolant? Also does oil look okay and has the engine
> been hot? Something you can do while you sort this out is to install a
> lower pressure radiator cap. I have been running them for years and I
> have do had any problem for them and they extend hose life and when a
> leak happens, it is a lot less agressive.

It can be done, but it is risky on new cars. Water boils at 212 F, each
pound of pressure raises that 3 degrees F. Antifreeze and water in a 50-50
mix boils at 248 degrees F at sea level. There are surfaces
in the engine that will approach this temperature. I would be nervous on a
vehicle with a standard 198 degree to 212 degree thermostat running less
than a 10 pound cap. Also remember water boils at lower temperatures at
higher elevation, 5000 feet lowers it 11 degrees.

I would have the coolant system checked for the presence of hydrocarbons, a
good indicator of head gasket leak.
The longer you wait to fix, the more expensive it will get.

Whitelightning