Antifreeze smell

I noticed on two recent trips over 100 miles each on separate occasions after I parked I noticed an antifreeze smell. Anyone else noticed this? I am somewhat of a grease monkey so I opened the hood and checked the obvious places: hoses, clamps, coolant cap, reservoir, engine block around the gasket area. The floor and there were no other cars parked around at the time. The smell is similar to when the coolant drips onto the exhaust. All levels seem fine. Any ideas or suggestions and comments are welcome. Thanks in advance.

Keep checking the level, probably just downwind of someone with a leak, it does linger

send it in and let them check it(if you have time)or keep any eye on the level , as you know anti freeze has that unique smell. If you think you smelled it you probably did.

I doubt a bad heater core but you never know. Possible it was overfilled and some came out the vent tube?

If it s leaking onto a hot exhaust or engine you may not see any signs of a leak either.

O after re reading I see you smelled it on exit of car..... well could be anything that splashed from the road onto the exhaust or rotors even.

Sometimes salt from road has a strong smell too when heated up. any of that?

possible leak areas

 

1. Upper rad hose

2. Crossover pipe

3. Lower rad hose

4. Heater core hoses

5. Water pump

6. Head gaskets

7. Rad cap

8. Radiator it's self.

9. Heater core (only if you smell sweet stuff in the car AND your windows get a film on them from the coolant)

 

Fastest way to find a leak is to use a LED flashlight and carefully go over the front of the engine bay and rad. LED offers a high contrast light source and it will make the coolant stand out.

 

Not likely you will see a leak due to the car having a plastic shield protecting the bottom of the engine from road spray

Could just be antifreeze venting off into the overflow tank, especially after sitting while hot and gets hotter from the engine heat. I don't remember if the fans still run after shutting off the car. I think they don't. Definitely watch the levels though. Used to get a whiff of antifreeze from my 05 LGT, especially when hot and the fans were going full blast, but after 146k, the level never changed.

when the car has cooled off a little, run your finger around the edge of the upper rad hose at each end to feel for moisture, if there is some, have the dealer replace the hose and clamps.

 

If you can get the car up on a lift and remove lower splash shield and do the same for the lower rad hose.

 

On the H4, the coolant pipe is located left side front of engine and it angles back under the intake manifold.

 

last thing you can try if you cannot find a leak, remove and inspect rad cap it could be defective.

 

when I smelled antifreeze on my 2K3 Acura, I replaced the rad cap and it resolved the issue. One should not smell antifreeze at all if everything is as it should be

 

When I smelled it on the Subaru, I found that the lower rad hose clamp was loose so I replaced it. When the smell came back I found that the upper hose had failed in such a way that it would not seal at the block end. I replaced the hose and have had no issues since then.

 

When cold, the coolant level should be above the min mark and when hot, it should be at the max mark.

Headgaskets have been problems with Subaru in the past. I had a 1998 Outback and blew a head gasket in 2001. Found on the internet that it was a common problem and Subaru agreed to pay for 1/2 the cost. I am not sure if Subaru has fixed this problem but we had that car for 14 years and it never happened again. That still didn't stop us from buying Subaru again. My wife had a 2013 Forester then she traded it in for a 2015 Forester 2.5i Limited since she liked it much better and I bought a 2015 Legacy 3.6R Limited

that is H4 only H6 is not known for HG issues. The newer H4 has a semi enclosed deck and do not seem to suffer like the older open deck designs

We have a 14' Crosstrek and it has this smell, and always had since new. The dealer checked it out and agreed, it smelled of coolant however nothing was found to be wrong. To this day, 21 months later, we haven't notice in coolant levels changing. but we still experience the smell after driving it for a few hours.

I find this smell from many cars I have owned. The coolant overflow tank vents to atmosphere, so after a good run, the engine is hot and the overflow tank has filled up

to the hot level you can get a whiff of coolant from it. Just to be on the safe side keep checking the level for a while

I noticed on two recent trips over 100 miles each on separate occasions after I parked I noticed an antifreeze smell. Anyone else noticed this? I am somewhat of a grease monkey so I opened the hood and checked the obvious places: hoses, clamps, coolant cap, reservoir, engine block around the gasket area. The floor and there were no other cars parked around at the time. The smell is similar to when the coolant drips onto the exhaust. All levels seem fine. Any ideas or suggestions and comments are welcome. Thanks in advance.

We have experienced this same issue. It started 2 weeks after purchasing our 2015 legacy 2.5i. The smell of coolant is coming from the passenger side of our motor. We are losing coolant , consuming oil an in the last couple weeks engine has developed a low end knock. The coolant has been "topped off " 3 times now. Every time we drive our car, within the first 20 mins all we can smell is coolant. It's currently at the dealer being looked at for the 5th time re: coolant leak /smell and the multiple other issues were having by a Subaru area field rep. Currently 11,500 miles.

 

 

Subi-Ru

You have a piece of sh*t, lady. Do something about it. ^^^

Subi-Ru

I also have had the same coolant smell in my 2013, and I have over 60,000 miles on it. I generally only smell it after a long 100+ miles highway trip, when I first come to a stop, say idling in a parking lot for a couple minutes. No leaks, no noticeable loss of coolant.

Reviving an old thread... I keep smelling coolant, daily. I am going to start speaking up about this to my SA at Shortline and SOA, because I am tired of it. I don't want to start being labeled as an annoying customer for a silly issue, but the issue has been there since day one and I've ignored it for the most part. They've checked it a few times and show nothing wrong, but the smell is wrong to me. I drove a 17 year old Chevy and it didn't stink like mine does. So I am putting my foot down until it gets fixed or replaced.

 

Anyone else smell coolant consistently? Please chime in.

Sorry to hear of this, Subie. My 3.6 does not smell of coolant. Have you had to add any?

^Good to know

 

And yes, on multiple occasions. I am in the process of emailing SOA about this.

Did you have the system pressure tested?

Unsure. I know that they looked at it multiple times and found nothing odd other than the reservoir being emptied every so often. We will see what comes of the email to SOA.

Keep us informed as to what they say, Miss Subie. I'm very interested in how they handle this. The whole ordeal smells of the debacle another member went through with smell, loss of coolant, and over heating IIRC. They gave her a new WRX.

Miss Subie, I will answer to that... But check out my profile picture. I am the white guy

^ Oops! Sorry! Wonder where I ever got that idea?

No worries

In the past year I have had Subaru fill my coolant overflow tank twice. A pressure test was done with negative results .

 

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Like it just disappears. Strange for sure.