The heater smells like antifreeze

[Foosblood24]

I turned my heater on today and the smell of antifreeze came out. Anyone know why?

[ThisIsSparTTa]

Check your floorboards on both side near the center console. Heater core failure is a very common problem and will dump coolant into the car. Replacement is a b****. I got my core from RockAuto, but haven't installed it yet. Also check heater core lines on back of the engine.

http://www.twinturbo.net/nissan/300zx/f ... -Dash.html

[Foosblood24]

But this isn't coolant that's smelling. I'm smelling antifreeze. Unless by coolant you mean engine coolant. (how tech-noob am I, right?)

But one of the symptoms is foggy windows, making me think it's referring to the heating and air.

But to be clear, it smells like antifreeze.

[ThisIsSparTTa]

Antifreeze = coolant = what you put into your radiator. http://autorepair.about.com/od/autorepa ... freeze.htm . Your "heater" is a mini radiator located in the middle behind your dash. It is fed hot coolant from your engine via the heater core hoses. Hot coolant passes through heater core radiator, fans blows across radiator TADA you have hot air to be blown in your cabin!

A lot of people think heaters are electrical, but they are pretty cool in that they are basically using heat energy already made by your engine. That's also why they tell you to turn your heater to high if your car is overheating, its a secondary radiator.

[Foosblood24]

Ah! Yes that makes sense. And would totally explain why I only smell it when the heat is on and not the AC. (told ya I was a tech-noob)

And the repair looks like a solid b*tch, but a necessary one.

[javadave]

Mine did the same thing last week I bypassed the lines temporarily until I have time to replace the core. You can do it the right way, pulling the whole dash and air control box out, or I found an easier method that looks like it will take alot less time here http://z32.wikispaces.com/Heater+Core

To bypass it temporarily, get a 2ft heater hose ( 3/4" inside diameter ) and some hose clamps and run it between the feed and return pipes coming out the back of the engine after removing the existing hoses running to the heater core pipes in the firewall. Keep in mind, you wont have heat this way, lol.

[Foosblood24]

True, and thanks for the how-to. But right now it's not smelling unless I turn the heat on, so if I'm not going to have heat either way I'll just keep the temp turned down to the 60 and leave it alone for now. Maybe have to wear a jacket in Winter but it doesn't really get too cold in Atlanta.