Car question

I'll just lay out the facts

7 year old Taurus with 53,000 miles

purchased in May

When I turn on the air conditioner (fresh air setting), I smell anti-freeze.

No obvious smoke or steam. Gauges all read fine.

Any ideas??

That would be my first guess.

I would suggest you get it changed before snow flies.

A flush wont stop the leak.

with a leaking heater core?

I just bought this car. :(

Unfortunatly this is ne of those PITA things to replace. It's usually buried up in behind the dash area, right next to the blower. The part itself is sort of a mini radiator. In and of itself not that big a deal to replace except for the location.

I'm making payments on this car and don't have two dimes to rub together right now with Lelapin in college. That's why I bought one with as low miles as I could afford.

but then you won't have heat in the interior when you want it. I am not sure about the Taurus, but a lot of cars are just a PITA to work on because they are small and have so much stuff crammed in there - the job isn't hard, but if the core is hard to get to it can rack up the hours. Might try the http://cartalk.com/board/ubbthreads.php?Cat=0 click and clack forums - they are moderated and it may take a while for a post to show up, but there is also a high likelyhood you will find the answer with a search.

I've got to have heat but have no way to pay for a repair. I might have to park it and drive Lelapin's car. But her car is dangerously close on the timing belt change and is leaking oil from the back of the engine.

some cars' engines get ruined if timing goes so I would make that a priority. Have them check the oil leak while they are under there - probably a seal - may or may not be real serious, but if dripping or blowing onto the muffler is can be very unpleasant to smell it burning.

You have my utmost sympathy.

I may have mentioned this before, but I freaking HATE motorvehicles.

Getting at some of them in newer cars is well worth the extra money to me though.

It is inside the dashboard. It is not an amateur job. I did most of my own auto work in HS and college, but I left the poison-smog machine to someone else. (Actually, it was a rusted out, 13-year-old Dodge Dart so I may have just abandoned it.)

They are both on the same coolant loop. Waste heat from the engine is pumped into the car's cabin, keeping your tootsies nice and toasty.

It's probably leaking a little. You now have two choices: replace it or seal it.

Replacing it most likely is a pain in the ass simply because it's buried in the dashboard. You'll be spending hours getting to it, maybe a half-hour to make the actual change itself, and then hours reassembling everything. I had to do it on an '87 T-Bird, and it was just akward getting the dashboard off.

A car manual like Chilton's will help. They run about $12 at your local auto parts store, and will detail the procedure. Maybe it's not that bad on the Taurus.



Or, you can seal it up. Get some of that radiator leak stopper for like $5, pour it in the radiator, and go for a long drive with the heat on. If the leak is small, it should seal it up without a problem.


Also check the hoses that go to the heater core. There will be a pair of them, as thick as a dry-erase marker, usually, and go from the water pump to fittings in the firewall. If one of those is leaking, it might be wafting up into the ventilation system. And those are a lot easier to change than a heater core.

Better get it fixed or else Kelly Clough won't ride or go out with you.

Used to be a pretty easy do it yourselfer. Newer cars have made access harder.

I don't have a clue how to isolate a heater core. Can you explain?? :)

DO NOT simply block the hoses. Look for the hoses where they enter the firewall. Please note that this is a temp fix and you will not have heat, which is probably not a big issue now.

One, any tiny puddles on the ground?

Two, get a powerful flashlight (Advance auto parts sells a 1,000,000 candle power halogen spotlight that is rechargeable for $10) and look up underneath the car for leaks. It could be seepage from the timing chain cover at the lower front of the motor.

Three, look for wetness around the area where the intake manifolds contact the heads, a common problem on 1996-2003 GM/Ford cars because of gasket deterioration.

Four, it could be a leak in a hose. Seven years is about the time you should think about changing the hoses and replacing the anti-freeze (flush).

Five, take it to a mechanic you trust and let him put it on a lift to show you.

Oh, PS, it the heater core was leaking, you'd be able to steam your clothes from the leak.




Oops, forgot, none of those leaks is really serious keep an eye on the coolent bottle level.

Can't tell about the puddles. I have a gravel drive.

Thanks.

I'll stop by the shop that has done good work for me in the past after work today.

And find an Advance auto parts store, they are a chain, those lights are great.

what I find out.

This is the first American car I've owned since my 1978 Plymouth Volare Coupe. Things are much better now...

My 10 year old Blazer had leaking intakes for the last couple of yars till I did them with a friend a couple of months ago. I just couldn't stand the anti-freeze smell any more. The Taurus is a good reliable car, and 53k means lots of life left.

the anti-freeze smell is tough to deal with. I had an '89 Honda and one day the radiator split at the weld. It steamed and smoked for a good hour or more. I had that smell in my nose for weeks after.

I'm glad to hear that 53k is still considered young. I really could use a break. ;)

My mom had a '99 Taurus when she passed away last spring, only had 65K kilometres on it. A red SE with the 3.8 l engine in it, it was fast, and she drove it like the Little Old Lady from Pasadena. My nephew has laid claim to it, I'm glad it's staying in the family.

Make sure it's not just a leaky hose before you have someone rip the whole damn dash out to get at the heater core. When I had a core go, in a 1986 Mercury, there were streams of fog coming out of the vents. Have someone look at all the hoses and keep your fingers crossed.

Hey, Dain, you may be interested to hear that my dad was a Ford man, and so was I until just a little while ago. We now have three Chevys, and we love them. Sorry though, my best car ever was a Ford, a '93 Aerostar that soldiered on for 13 solid years, and still purred like a kitten when we put it out to pasture last year.

Always needled me about why Chevy's always lost to Fords back then.

As opposed to the fiberglass representations you see today, of course.

Just jumped into the heater core thing because I have been through it too many times - have a Tracer that steamed me pretty good, sitting waiting for somebody to take the entire dash apart:rofl:

The only place where the coolant comes into the passenger compartment is in the coil. That also explains the lack of a puddle (if there is in fact no puddle.) It's leaking on the inside. I also disagree about the steam-your-clothes. We are talking about a minute amount of liquid vaporizing on the outside of the coil.

Re-circulate stops the smell.

I love a good mystery. :)

Cars with unified heat, vent and A/C is still a novelty to me. I still get the urge sometimes to reach down and open the vent. Still, recirculate definitely comes in contact with the heater coil.

Make sure the reason it is not smelling on recirculate is not because the car is low on coolant.


EDIT

It is a serious leak in the engine compartment: a hose, head gasket or radiator.

check the hoses closely, it might even be a loose clamp that you can easily tighten yourself! (fingers crossed for you)

have you checked the coolant level in the overflow bottle or better yet the radiator itself?

directly beneath the windshield. Since that is a high-pressure area, it also picks up ALL of the wonderful odors from under the hood due to the incomplete sealing at the rear of the hood. A TEASPOON of antifreeze enough to spread it's wonderful aroma throughout the air circulating passages of the vehicle.

School is out my children, we'll wait for the decision by Ms lizziegrace's trusted mech a nick!

Whenever the heat is 'on', the air going to the cabin is being blown throught he core. It does not matter if it's recirculated or fresh, it's still going past the heater core to get hot.

If you only smell it when the outside air is coming in, then you probably have a small leak somewhere in the engine compartment. Probaby a leaky hose, then. You'll have to look for drips.

If you check in the darkness using a flashlight with the engine hot and running any steam from a leak should be visible in the beam of light.

It could also be the water pump. When the bearing start wearing out, a small leak develops right where the shaft of the pulley goes into the pump housing, and anti-freeze drips out. Check that, and also check that the bolts on the water pump are tight and the gasket isn't leaking.

I sure as hell have smelled hot coolant on the inside when it was leaking from a hose or radiator - the air in the vents comes from outside, after all.

but I also agree it doesn't take a huge leak or a geyser on the inside to be detectable either.

A heater core leak today is catastrophic, because of the high temperatures and pressures modern engines run for emissions purposes.

mine has all been trial by error and fire for 20-25 years :patriot:

my last core failure sure was a steamer, that is for sure!

The no-smell-on-recirculate rules out an interior leak. To smell an engine compartment leak on the inside, it must be big enough to notice loss of coolant in the radiator.

Always go with the simplest solution and work your way through. The mechanic was leaning over the engine and we both heard a hissing sound. He leaned in closer and pushed down on the radiator cap. It clicked once and the hissing stopped...

:shrug:

Maybe that's it, maybe it's not. But, for now I'll just keep an eye on it. Next step is to pressure test the system.

:P

Many years ago, I had a Corolla wagon, and the heater coil busted, leaking anti-freeze all over my floorboard. That stuff doesn't evaporate, and it wasn't readily absorbed from the carpet. x(

But hey, I would not criticize your choice of mechanics if he proves to be right!

you might even splurge and get a new one! (the rubber gasket can get hard and brittle.

Still, wouldn't hurt to look for the other leaks mentioned (hoses - ends and main bodies, waterpump weephole.

Hopefully you lucked out! Congrats!

If it was the heater core, the question would be more like "how come there's a puddle of antifreeze on the floor of my car?" When these things leak, you will know it.

I think it's one of two things: the car's overheating a little--the needle on the water temp gauge goes up about halfway, right? That's actually a hair too high most of the time--and throwing water out the weep hole in the water pump, or one of the hoses (most likely) between the back of the engine and the firewall is leaking.

Antifreeze fluoresces in UV light, so if you can score a blacklight, open your hood at night, start the engine and look at the engine under the blacklight. Leaks will pop right out at you.

D'OH!

D'oh!

But...I'd still get the blacklight and look under the hood anyway. It's free (if you can get use of a blacklight for free, that is), it doesn't take but five minutes and you might find another leak.

Leaks, in any system containing fluid, are like rattlesnakes: they come in pairs. Always.

steam coming out of your vents along with smell..

i'm going with the loose radiator cap that you had...

guessing not the heater core though.

leaking hoses, but i had a heater core go bad once and steam came out of my vents when i drove:P