I read through so many of the other posts hoping for someone sharing the same problem...bub-kiss..so here's my problem...

Strong coolant smell intermittently but i cant figure out what set of circumstances cause it. So far it seems that it happens only when driving as when i open the hood and look/try to sniff out the problem i cant trace it as the odor dissipates quickly. No coolant on the pass floorboard and i cant seem to find a puddle underneath the truck. Radiator and water pump is approximately 3 months old so i know they're in working order ( or should be). The only problems with the cooling system were a pinhole leak in radiator and the water pump weep hole...which i replaced. At the beginning of winter (I'm in tx so it just gets a lil cooler) it wouldn't heat which i traced to the heater core having some sort of blockage. That was fixed with lots of water and a couple of hoses and i flushed it out so i had heat again. Now I'm leaking coolant and i cant seem to figure it out. Any ideas as to where i would intermittently leak coolant would be appreciated.

 

I had a simular thing couldnt find mine either but after about 300 miles of local driving it went away I chalked it up to maybe some I left on manifold or somewhere because its ok now, hope yours is this simple.

 

Generally if you smell it then it means it burning off. Look all around the intake manifold and heads for any trace of coolant. A pressure test of the coolant system might also help determine where it's leaking. It could be such a slight leak that you don't notice any significant loss of coolant.

 

Did a pressure check and it dropped a lil in 10mins...which i think made the problem worse and helped at the same time. It is the heater core which apparently had a pinhole leake and now it is a crack as now i smell coolant ALOT more so unless something else is leaking coolant i'll be pilling the dash. Oh any one whose done a heater core on 99 or comparable any tips short cuts wold be greatly appreciated...cuz im having to drive a 91 honda civic in the mean time..love the 40 mpg hate the lack of respect on the road...Thnks dobyken with out the pressure test id still be looking

 

Heater core short cut? There are no short cuts. Remove the entire dash from the vehicle, then you can get right at the heater case. Remove the case and replace the core. If you haven't done one before, plan on 6 to 8 hours of not having fun Should be a thread in the "How-To" section that will help.