95 SSE

Wife was telling me that yesterday after running for 10 minutes the car smelled hot.
I checked everything over and ran it for a while when I got home and it smelled fine.

But then today she said it smelled hot again after driving it for 15 minutes.
And that it smelled like hot coolant in side the car.
But then when she came home after driving for 30 minutes the smell was gone.

I don't have any idea at this point. I don't remember the last time I replaced the thermostat.
I'll replace it tomorrow just in case.

The UIM and lower intake gaskets and water pump are new within 1000 miles
The radiator was replaced back in 96

Heater core?
Head gasket?
Thermostat?

Car has 132.XXX miles

She normally only drives it 4 minutes to and from work every day.
The car never really gets up to temp, except when I drive it to work once in a while.
Oh, and the right three gauges have not worked right for like 8 years so i have no idea if it is even over heating.




Todd

this does not look good does it?

get those gauges fixed, and check the oil for coolant

more pics of oil and coolant:

Oil looks ok, are you physically losing any coolant?

The coolant used to drop befor I did the UIM.

And even now the coolant is staying the same level.

closer look at coolant res tank:

I've experienced a leaking heater core in 2 of my cars over the years. In both cases the odor was always accompanied by a steamed up windshield as soon as I would turn on defrost, etc. For what it'* worth.

The water in the fill cap is probably just condensate from short trips. You may have a small leak in the engine compartment whose odor gets pulled into the heater intake. Look around the water pump, and especially around the coolant elbow from the LIM to the tensioner for coolant seeps. Get rid of the DEX.

Here are some places to look for coolant leaks:

You guys have been realy helpfull, Thanks you so much.

I'll be changing the oil/coolant/and thermostat very soon



Thanks again

Todd