coolant smell through vents

[bookooc]

I was towing a light boat back home today (350 miles), in my 1992 XLT 4x4. I started smelling coolant about 250 miles in. No change in temp on the gauge.
I turned on the fan and got a lot of vapor through the vents. I pulled over and saw no leaks, and no change in the reservoir level. I was able to get home (50miles) with no problem, but the smell remained.
Suggestions on where to look?
Thanks
Rick

 

[techieman33]

sounds like you need a new heater core. There is a write up on here somewhere.

 

[The Captain]

What you got Rick is a crack in your heater core. Same thing happened to me. If you see coolant leaking from the heater core drain that is it.

You can either replace it or do the cheap way and put in some solution in the radiator that will plug that crack.

Just my 2 cents.

 

[techieman33]

What you got Rick is a crack in your heater core. Same thing happened to me. If you see coolant leaking from the heater core drain that is it.

You can either replace it or do the cheap way and put in some solution in the radiator that will plug that crack.

Just my 2 cents.

DO NOT put stop leak in to fix your heater core, it's takes an hour to replace in a first gen if you take your time and triple check everything.

 

[bookooc]

Thanks for the replies guys. Kind of what I thought.

Rick

 

[YBCold]

im pretty sure its your heater core

 

[93explorer317]

$20 dollar heater core, 5 mins to take off about 10 mins to install a new one.

 

[93explorer317]

sounds like you need a new heater core. There is a write up on here somewhere.

Would it be this one? http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=276063

 

[techieman33]

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?p=1215534#post1215534

 

[marragtop]

As already stated, do not use Stop Leak or any other snake oil type treatments. A $20 core and 1 hour job isn't worth the risk.

 

[The Captain]

Yes it is recommended to just replace a heater core. However.....when you put the stop leak don't leave it in your car for more than 2 weeks because it will clog the radiater. So a flush is a must. It worked for me just be carefull.

 

[Corik]

make a good seal

Make sure the seal is good with the hoses onto the core itself. I literally...like today just fixed my problem.

I could still smell coolant and it was disappearing and I knew it was leaking into the floor of the passenger side. I expected a bad core (even though its less than a year old.) but nope. No cracks...so that must mean the hose lines.

There were no breaks in the line but it looked odd so I cut the ends off the hoses and bought new clamps and its great now!

I get clean air and its actually cool air now and not warmish. I only had cold air come out in the morning. $2 fix.