tiny coolant leak someplace...
 

Hey all -

I'm wondering if any of you all have experienced this. '02 11,900 miles (weekend sunny day car :) )

Last couple of times taking the car out I noticed a whiff of antifreeze odor. More the smell of evaporating coolant. Not losing much in the way of coolant at all - I've never had to add coolant for as long as I've owned the car (certainly not true for oil :LOL: ) but now it's down to maybe the "low" level in the reserve tank.

No leaks under the car or in the car that I could see or feel... I literally had to get out and sniff around and it seems like it's coming from near the firewall on the drivers side - somewhere near the intake manifold...

I suppose I'll have to call the dealer and have them look for it but I'm not really excited about that prospect.

Thanks for any input!

I'd check the more obvious places for signs of dried coolant:
-coolant lines to the throttle body.
-heater line valve near the battery.
-rad drain valve.
-coolant line to oil filter base.
-bleeder valves - one on top near intake manifold and one on metal line that runs across the top of the firewall.
-overflow tube from rad cap to reservoir.
-main rad hoses that you can see and can feel.
-passenger side footwell (heater core).

The bleeder valve and the metal tubes - it looks like there is a whitish residue on all of the joints... I'm not sure if that is normal or not. :(

I'll have to investigate a bit more later...

Thanks, xviper! :)

Not really a good way to check, in the past i have took a water hose and drained the fluid and used the water hose to find the leak but it might now work, keep us updated..

hehe... you don't like my sniff testing? :) I couldn't think of another quick and easy way to find the leak.

No drips anywhere... and I could only smell it near the firewall. Only dectectable inside the car if it sits for a minute or so...

Do a more concentrated investigation of the heater core area if this still does NOT happen when you have turned the heater knob to full COLD.

Have you done any mods that may have effected the cooling system (Hondata gasket, thermostat, etc.)? If you haven't ever needed to add coolant to the reservoir in 2 years / 12K miles, then I seriously doubt you have a leak. Coolant will evaporate from the reservoir.

Do you have a CAI? Xviper and I discussed this in another thread as well. I replaced my coolant line (not necessary, but a lot of people do it) when I replaced my CAI. I get the occassional drips and coolant smell. I usually just re-tighted the clamp, but eventually (been saying this for over a year) I'll replace the hose.

Gernby - you may be right. I have *never* added coolant and it has only dropped to the "low" mark on the tank - but I'm all too well aquainted with the smell of evaporating coolant. :) The weird thing is that the coolant smell is a very recent thing.

CAI? Yes - but I don't think it'll make a difference. It's the idi Spoon replical carbon fiber duct. No messing around with the hoses etc...

No cooling system mods.