HELP!!! I SMELL ANTIFREEZE
 

I've noticed that after driving the car and getting it fully warmed up. Lets just say about 30 miles. When I stop at wherever I may be going, I smell antifreeze if I roll the windows down or if I get out. Its not a SUPER STRONG smell, but its enough that I can smell it. There are NO LEAKS on the ground... and there is NO STEAM coming from under the hood. I don't see any visible wet areas under the hood. I have not checked clamps from the radiator to the block nor the block to the radiator return line. That will be my first step.:sigh:

Check to see if your passenger floor mat is damp. I had a heater core issue on my WRX which caused coolant to leak into the cabin -- along with smells of coolant and a lovely sugary coating on everything in the vehicle.

how many miles have you put on the car since you purchased?

Approx. 3100 give or take a couple miles.

I don't notice it when the doors are shut... I cant smell anything like antifreeze. But if I roll the windows down or stop and get out of the car... then I can smell it. And the heat blows just fine btw.

Most likely a very small leak somewhere in the engine compartment. Check all the hose clamps and water pump bolts. Could even be the radiator cap.

My wife's car a 2002 PT Cruiser had this smell and I could never find the source. I put in 4oz. of liquid Bars Stop Leak and took a long drive. That was years ago and it's still odor free.

Make sure the overflow tank isn't over filled. It could be burping out of that if it has been over filled, perhaps during PDI.

-Mike Paisan

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I recently test drove an FR-S and it also had an antifreeze smell when I was blasting the heat.

Was there any resolution to this?

Did you ever get an answer to what was going on? I took mine into the dealer when we were picking up my wife's Camry for service. Mentioned it to the service advisor and he said to bring it in to have it checked out. I was there in it so I pulled it up to the service drive. Popped the hood and we were both hit with a strong wave of coolant smell. I left it there and now after four tris back with my engine removed at least twice, my dash "accessed" at least twice, pressure tested every time, coolant smell verified every time, toyota training center communicated with on last visit and scheduled visit march 3rd for toyota engineer ( only because I talked with GM about my issues) I have been told the problem with my scion is it has a Subaru engine in it, the coolant is different and has a lower boiling point and I'm smelling the coolant flash off out of the strange venting system Subaru uses, I have a sensitive nose, this is normal, if you want to trade your car in I can set you up with a salesman, you should go to another dealer and see if they can fix it and go drive the hell out of it if you blow the motor we replace it under warranty. I'm pretty pissed at the service I have been getting and quite frankly I really just want to get out of this car. Oh and also with all the visits to the dealer I now have a rattle trap when I drive down the road

Hello,
Did you ever get a factual answer for this problem? I'm in League City and Mac Haik is jerking me around as well.
Thanks, Reed R