Every time I drive my truck and get out there is the smell of coolant from the engine bay. Not losing coolant, no leaks, no overheating, no white smoke, nothing going on with the truck other than the standard 03 tick while idling that stops as soon as you accelerate over 1000 Rpms. The smell seems to be coming from the top hoses near the bleed screw. Any input?

 

How long have you been smelling it, are you sure you're not losing coolant? My guess is that you have a very small leak somewhere which you have not noticed yet and it's dripping onto the hot engine and evaporating so you don't see it, like the connections at the throttle for instance. Take a look at any hose connections and look for dried antifreeze. That's one good thing about Dexcool if you have it, it makes a nasty mess that is easy to see if it's leaking.

 

if you smell it, its burnin somewhere just alittle amount of coolant just on the short scale of hot and you can probably pick it up rather easy with a sniff... and yea, even if its more then weaping rate onto hot parts of the motor (expecially the exhuast) you might never see it or the smoke. try running it at idle with hood open from a cold start and poke around. for some reason i find it easier at night with a flashlight then during the day... you tend to focus more on specific spots, and the light reflects nicely off recently wet spots... plus the light makes the smoke very apparent as a shimmer where during the day you might not see it mixing with all the wind the fan/pulleys/belt are kickin back. plus, youd be surprised how much can leak out before you notice in the overflow tank! definatly enough to smell for a few days before seeing an appreciable drop.

 

Check the throttle body heater.

 

I bought one at harbor frieght for $50, but I think autozone will let you borrow a preasure tester.
Water leaks much easier to find under preasure, and if it doesnt loose preasure then you know you dont have a leak.
if you continue to loose preasure and cant find it try by-passing the heater.
If the heater core has a leak you will get that lovely coolant smell but you wont be able to see the leak.
These LR only hold 2 gallons of coolant so any leak can become very costly. very quickly.
unfortunatly, I found out the hard way.
good luck

 

I have replaced the throttle body heater plate and I swapped out the Dexcool for Peak, but I will definitely do the check tonight with a pressure test and thorough inspection with flashlight under the cover of night.

 

you might check the water pump and the tangle of hose in that area. You might climb under the truck with a flashlight and a mechanics mirror. I found a leak where the pipe that goes to the heater core from the top of the intake. There is a small o-ring that had gone bad. Good luck sometimes these leaks can be real buggers. Phil

 

Stupid Question: the heater core is the radiator looking thing at the back of the engine opposite the radiator on the front of the engine?

 

No. The heater core is inside the truck behind the dash...I think what ljdiscovery is referring to is the throttle body heater...

 

Pressure test and wait for drop if any. Correction to previous post, the system holds 26.2 pints which equals 3.275 gallons. That is from a dry system. Double check water pump weep hole on the bottom of the water pump, dexcool eats these seals and can cause a very small leak or a gusher. Take your time when checking for leaks, just do it with a pressure tester, not with engine running. Much safer that way.