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I have a 2000 Blazer 4x4 with the 4.3 liter and air conditioning, my question is; I have had a coolant like smell in my car for the past few weeks, seems to come and go, but it seems more prevalent when the heat is on, my thinking is it must be my heater core. In my past experience with heater cores, it was obvious when they went, I would have anti-freeze on the passenger floor and/or steam would come through the vents but in this case nothing but a smell. The thing is replacing the heater core is a hell of a job on my vehicle.I don't want to go through all this trouble and find out that the heater core is fine. Is there anyway I can for sure tell if it is the heater core...I heard from someone the way the blazer was designed in 2000, if it does leak it would not leak on the floor rather it would leak outside the firewall..not sure about that.

I sometimes ask myself how come manufactures don't think to themselves that someone is going to have to replace parts of the vehicle and therefore make things accessible.

 

If you're not seeing any coolant on the passenger side carpet, you probably have a leaking intake manifold gasket.

 

Thanks for the response, question I have is how would a leaky intake manifold cause a coolant smell in my interior? What worries me is that the intake gasket was done about 2 years ago..

 

Your air intake for your heating system is outside just below the windshield. So if there are any smells outside the truck in the front, it will come inside through there. Korey

 

Thanks for the info...I ran my car with the hood opne and smell no coolant at all from the back of the engine...I can only conclude it is the heater core and what a job this is going to beto do..I guess I know what I am doing this weekend.

 

my heater core went last year and it was mostly dripping off of the passenger side mud guard. But there was also some thatsoaked into the carpet. AND it blew white **** all over the windshield.

When my core went.....it did so in style [sm=imsmilin.gif]

 

OF COURSE they think that!! The more difficult they make things to replace, the more apt the customer is to take their vehicle to the dealership to fix the problem!!

 

You guys are way off base with your assessment of why things are the way they are. Being an engineer myself, packaging is one of the most difficult things to do, especially when you have to use components across platforms. Hey, lets blame the engineer for putting that there; never mind the requirement for the design and function of the HVAC system that required it be put there, or the bean counter telling the engineer to do things differently, etc. Nothing is designed with the malicious intent to force end users to take their vehicle in for service at a dealership. Cars these days just require more information to be able to work on. The more complex the vehicle, the more knowledge about that vehicle will have to be garnered.

 

lol, engineers make me laugh, for some reason they think they're right 100% of the time

not poking fun at kyle....this is just from my experiences as a pipefitter. as long as it says its right on there little piece of paper, it will work........nuh uh......countless times we had to modify it to work/fit......and of course....they get all flusterd [8D]

 

Well, that is because your engineers don't get out of their cubicle enough. But I will say that the larger the system, the more 'modification' is necessary to make it fit properly which sometimes escapes most engineers.

Me, I have been working on, around, and fabricating machinery since I was 5. Most engineers are afraid to get their hands dirty. Not me!

But I digress, we are straying off topic and I started it...[&o] LOL