After just getting my 04 back from having a new oil pump installed I noticed on the way home I can smell coolant when the heater is on. I haven't ever used the heater on it until now so I have no idea how long this has been happening. I haven't seen a single leak under the hood so I was wondering if anyone had any ideas?

Also as I was leaving campus (broke college kid here) to come ask about my coolant leak, I pulled through a car wash. After getting the ultra whatever wash I pulled out and while leaving I now have the three amigos. Please tell me there is an easy fix for this. If not where do I start on that?

Any suggestions will be very appreciated!

 

Sorry to hear that you're having issues. I can totally relate. I have a love hate relationahip w/ my '01. Funny thing is if its running fine Im not content. Haha.

With regards to the coolant smell in the cab w/ the heat on. Do you notice a mist on the windshield when the heat or defrosters are on? Sounds indicative to a punctured heater core. Which is a PITA to get too.
Hows your coolant levels? How's your engine temperature? Do not trust the factory idiot gauge on the dash by the time its alerts you the damage may already be done. Do you have an ultra gauge or supplementary temp gauage. If not, I suggest you get one asap. I think the Ultra Gauges and like 70 bucks. I wise investment that could potentially end up saving you thousands.

 

Thanks for the quick reply. Yes there is a mist on the windshield and after running the heater for 30 min on my drive home the coolant dropped about a half inch. I have an oil pressure and water temp gauge sitting at the house waiting to get put on, came in while it was in the shop so I haven't had a chance to get them on yet. Hoping to have them on this weekend. What kind of work and $$ am I looking at if its the heater core? Never had to replace one before.

 

If it happened right after a car wash its probably just a faulty code from water intrusion in one of the sensors. Now unlike faulty triggered check engine lights, I don't know if brake codes clear themselves once triggered, I'm sure someone here can chime in on that. Worse case senerio you can borrow or buy an ABS Amigo computer to check and reset the codes, or diagnos if there really is a problem. The most common problem I believe that triggers triamigos is a brake fluid leak across the ABS shuttlevalve internally. You can either replace the whole module or there is a writeup on how to modify it to so that there are no future occurences. They tend to start to leak in on themselves with age at nearly the same rate as headgaskets and front driveshafts

as far as the coolant, if you smelled it when the heat turned on then its a leaky heater core, could be just a pinhole seepage, or more substantial. Monitor your coolant levels daily to to catch and prevent a catastrophy. If it is just a minor drip seepage behind the dash, dont ignore that too long either by just topping off the coolant... all your critical computers are around or under the heater core.

I HIGHLY recommend that if you do get it fixed reguardless, ditch that coolant and get a synthetic aftermarket version like dexcool, or pull the thermo, hoses and do a goooood flush of the entire system and switch to conventional. dexcool does NOT mix well with conventional coolant, it will gum up and there will be enough residual on the pump, radiator and hoses to clog the tiny thermostate ASAP. so start fresh and new, or to be safe get a universal synthetic to run so you get best of both worlds (getting rid of dexcool, and not having to be so carefull about getting rid of all the original **** in there already)

 

It sounds like your heater core is failing on you. You need to stop driving it or at least bypass the heater core before continued driving. The mist and smell of coolant points to the heater core. Check your passenger side floor board as well, it will probably be soaked in coolant.

You can get a euro spare heater core for about $130. Don't get super cheap one because you don't want to be doing this again.

The rave manual can walk you through what to do. I replaced mine a few months ago and I did it by the book. There is a short cut method however. You will need a decent tool set, expect to use the 13mm socket a lot.

 

posted before i saw your last post.

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$150ish in parts, maybe 2-3 hours labor depending on shop? thats if the cores damaged,could just be a hose/gasket leak somewheres.

but i recommend again swapping coolant either way, and maybe getting a 180 degree thermo while youre at it if you do.

 

You should also pressure test to get a better idea of what's going on. You can remove the plastic hvac vents on the passenger side of the center console to get a better view of the heater core pipes.

 

Thanks for the replies. I may get shot for asking this, but is there any chance I'll be ok running some Bar's Leaks through it until I have the time and money to fix it. After $1200 on a new oil pump and labor to fix what I thought was my only problem, this college kids wallet is looking pretty empty.

 

I'll pull those vents and check those hoses if I've still got some daylight when I make it home. I would love for it to just be a leaking hose.

 

I completely understand man, college kid myself. Personally I would rather bypass the heater core than run stop leak through the system. Others may not agree, but that's just my opinion. To bypass I would recommend something like this(link), I'm not sure what size the heater hoses are for the DII though. The heater pipes are made of metal, so the only thing that could be leaking besides the heater matrix itself is the o-rings at the mating surfaces. Which is just about the same amount of work honestly.

Heater Core Bypass Kit 5 8" | eBay