dmburns

My heater core went out about 2 years ago and had coolant pooling in the passenger footwell. Replaced it the "easy way" by cutting the inlet/outlet tubes, inserting the new one, and then connecting them with rubber hose and hose clamps, like this.


All has been well and good since the repair, however lately there has been this weird smell coming from inside and I only really smell it when I get in the Jeep in the morning or after its been sitting a while. It doesn't smell bad necessarily, but there's definitely a smell. I've had coolant leaks before so I know what that smells like but I didn't think it smelled TOO strong like coolant... but maybe slightly? I thought maybe it was a mildewy smell coming from the vents so I popped the cowl and sprayed Lysol (several times) into the intake and let sit to remove any bacteria that may be in there. Made the inside smell nice and fresh but the next morning the smell was back. I decided to shove my nose up to where the heater core sits and the smell was very strong in that area, so I can only assume maybe it IS the smell of coolant?


These pictures show what the heater core currently looks like with the rubber hose. It kind of looks like there may be some orange (coolant colored) sludge coming out from the edges of the hose? But.. coolant dries a white-ish color, not brown like that? Might anyone have any ideas or advice as to why there may be a strong smell coming from this area? Is there a chemical that can help deep clean and "reset" this area? Maybe I have to take it apart to clean it or seal it better? I have cleaned just about everything else at this point.

resharp001

man, that is a weird looking substance. Have to agree....doesn't look like coolant. There's no chance coolant was mixed right? I think if that were my jeep, i would monitor it after good use and see if i can catch that being wet around that area, or at least change in appearance as something was clearly leaking out. I'd probably remove those hoses, inspect, and replace. Not fun job I'm sure so I'd want to monitor first and try to see that leak changing appearance. I know not much help....an odd situation there.

dmburns

Trying to catch it when wet is an obvious, but good idea. I'm going to keep an eye on it to see what happens. There may have been a chance of a little bit of oil making it into the cooling system as I replaced the oil filter housing for the 3rd time last year. But, I have already done a coolant flush so I thought I was in the clear.

Also, I had to add some universal coolant a few months ago because I was in a pinch, so I am currently doing ANOTHER coolant flush and restarting with the correct HOAT. Hopefully that may help.