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Car Forum / Driving, Maintenance, Tuning / General Car Topics / February 2006

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I smell coolent when I turn a corner... anyone seen this before?

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slipandfall - 01 Feb 2006 17:14 GMT
Hopefully someone will have seen this before...

OK. 1997 Taurus 65k.

Whenever I take a very sharp corner (usually a right turn) or slow down from
a high speed I hear a 1 or 2 second long high pitched squeelling (almost the
sound of whistle/air vaccuum sound - not metal on metail sound) coming from
under the hood in the direction of the passanger front wheel.

A second or two later I can smell what I think is coolent/anitifreeze coming
from the air vents. It all goes away until the next hard corner / brake I
make (usually 2 times on a 10 mile journey).

I initially thought it was windshield washer I was smelling, but then I
noticed that I have to keep adding coolent to the resevoir ever 3 days or
so. Not much, perhaps a couple of cups worth, but I have to do it regularly
as it does go down. I've checked for coolent leaks under the car and along
the hoses and clamps with the radiator but can't see where it might be
coming out. I even put paper under it to see if it drips but I can't find
any drips. Does coolent smell anything like windshield washer fluid (that
windex type smell)?

Oh yeah, the engine temperature has never read anything other than normal.
It has never overheated.

Can anyone suggest what is happening? I'm happy to keep driving it and
filling up the coolent ever couple days as I really don't want to spend any
money on the car, but my wife thinks we are going to gas ourselves and end
up with cancer from the occasional fumes unless I get it fixed.

Has anyone ever seen this before?

Thanks for the advice.
Mike Romain - 01 Feb 2006 18:44 GMT
You could easily be describing the symptoms of a blown head gasket.

Some coolant will leak into a cylinder when it sits so you lose some and
compression can get into the rad causing the cap to blow it's seal
letting the steam/coolant mix out.  That would be the noise and smell.

Sometimes you can ID this for sure by pulling the plugs and seeing if
one is clean.  This would be where the leak is.  You also can sometimes
warm it up 'carefully' with the rad cap off and watch for smoke coming
out the opening in puffs...  You can put your hand over it with the
overflow tube pinched and feel the puffs sometimes too.

A compression test will also sometimes locate the blown head gasket.

Mike
86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail in '00
88 Cherokee 235 BFG AT's
Canadian Off Road Trips Photos:  Non members can still view!
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> Hopefully someone will have seen this before...
>
[quoted text clipped - 29 lines]
>
> Thanks for the advice.
 
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