I recently purchased a 2000 LS Blazer 4X4, it has about 85000 miles on it, the problem I have found is I am smelling a coolant smell insideit the odd time. I am thinking it could be the heater core...but am hoping it might be something else..like a leaking hose or something...my question is..do I have to take the whole entire dash off to get at the heater core and my other question is..my buddy said to get rid of the orange anti freezeand replace it with the green stuff...he says the orange stuff is crap and eats away at the gaskets in your engine, what are your thoughts?

 

Yes the dash does need to be removed to access the heater core. Don't change your coolant unless you are prepared to install new intake gaskets also. But your friend is right about how bad the coolant is. I have the same problem where I get a wiff of coolant every once in a while, but I know my intake is leaking, so it is probably that. I would think if it was your heater core it would be all the time. Where asother items like the intake can start and stop leaking depending on how warm the engine is. HTH Korey.

 

I would look around under the hood for any traces of Coolent first. You would be surprised at how a pin hole leak in a hose can be mis-understood. And seeing as most of the fresh air can be tainted by burning smells from under the hood, this is why I like being able to switch from fresh air to cab air. Makes tracing down some issues easier.
Yes, the dash will have to be removed to replace the heater core. Might not be a bad idea (if no under hood leaks are found) to remove thatlowercover pannel so that you can view the black plastic that covers your heater core. There you can check for wet spots on the carpet, traces from the casing. If you run your defroster a lot, as most people do durring the winter months, watch for white fog (kind of sticky if you touch it and rub your fingers together) showing up on the inside of the windshield. That is a for sure sign of a bad heater core.