This morning I turned on my heat for the first time in months. About 5 miles in it began to smell( almost sweet and acrid at the same time.) I looked at the temp gauge and it was running cool. At a stop light it rose a little bit but still held cool. After turning the heat off I then noticed a small bit of white smoke coming from the vent(heater core?) Are the two related? I've been driving my wifes car but need to replace a fuel injector so this is the first time i've gone further than the store in the explorer and have had the sense to look at the temp gauge. It never seemed to get to normal operating temp. I had the thermostat replaced last year, but when that problem arose it showed by overheating.This past week I did top off the coolant in the radiator and reserve. Any suggestions?

Thanks,
Andrew


Also I have about a 10 mile drive home, am I going to make it?

I sure don't like the sound of smoke from the plenum! Sure it wasn't steam? You could have heater core leak. If you go to defrost, does it put a film on the windshield?

its the heater core leaking. good luck. you sould make it home just watch the gauges

I'm trying to reach the core but i'm having a little trouble getting those dang black screws off any tips on those? And no I'm not sure it was smoke. Neither was it ample, it was a wisp. It could have easily been steam. It came out of the main vent above the radio.

Oh wow...a Gen I. You are one lucky son of a gun.

I happen to have an O'reilly's auto store nextdoor to me. Do you guys think this can be an lunch break repair. Do I need a bucket or to be on the lookout for any surprises?

I would go next door and buy a nipple and some coolant and bypass the heater core. Drive it home, and take your time to replace the core.

I'm unsure as to how I would bypass this. Would it matter if I didn't use the heater? I have to go from one job to the next today, so I will not have leisure time to repair this until friday evening.

disconnect the hoses from the heater core under the hood. Use a nipple to connect the two hoses together. Tighten the clamps, open the radiator, fill with coolant and go home until you get it fixed. Shutting the heater off will only work if you have a shut off valve (that's working) and if that valve is in the supply side to the heater core.

I went under the hood and there is only one visible clamp. The other seems to be way under the engine. I'm not noticing a significant amount of coolant missing from the radiator either. At this point it seems my only choice is to again top off the radiator and the reserve. It was about 48 when I left this morning and should be around 70 degrees now. Getting a little nervous about driving home.

any thoughts as to whether or not the radiator cap could be causing this?I drove home and when I checked under the hood a leak there was visible. This would certainly create a smell but any way it could produce steam inside the car?

Well, i got a new core today and tomorrow morning i plan to replace it. I think this is a good time to flush the radiator. Can/should I do it via the core tubes?

Well, it's done. Ran into a couple of problems. The hoses had welded to the core so after cutting off the necessary amount I didn't have enough slack left. So minus a $7.00 trip to the store it was an easy twenty minute job. Thanks for the help guys.

be glad you have a 1st gen, the 2nd gens are an all day affair...step 1 is remove dash.