Something Smokin'

[TheRef126]

'68 Fastback w/289

After leaving a Honda in the dust, I noticed that funny sweet coolant smell inside the car. I had the air on as cold as it would go and actually saw very faint smoke coming out of the air vents. So I pulled over afraid that I had a radiator hose about to burst and checked things out. All the hoses looked fine, not new, but not in so bad of shape they would be leaking yet. So my question is, what could be wrong? I think not the heater core because the air was set to full cold, and I believe that would bypass the heater core. So is it a leaky water pump? Tell me what you think plz!

 

[68GEETEE]

its because a car's evaporator is too small to handle alot of humidity all at once, therefore some water vapor gets thru and comes thru your vents as smoke, fog, etc. Your coolant smell could be a pinhole leak in your heater core, or a leaky connection somewhere in your heater hoses, cooling lines. CHeck your coolant level again and see where you are at.

 

[3spd on floor]

was the car overly hot when it happened? are you sure it was smoke and not steam? only thing i can think of is a slight heater core leak and if it was really hot it could come out and then steam up real fast getting sucked up the airvents by the blower motor. i believe the a/c draws its air through the same cowl vent as the heater box does.

other than that....


EDIT: looks like 68GEETEE beat me to it and had a better answer. i was partly right about the heater core causing the smell....

 

[2nd Mustang]

If you can smell coolant inside of the car, it's just a matter of time before it leaks big time! I had that happen in a Taurus (Fords seem to have lousy heater systems), a few days of "fogged up" windshield on the inside, then one day, coolant all over the inside of the windshield. I think it best to investigate, especially if you can smell it!