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3K views 10 replies 8 participants last post by  Americanmuscle345 
#1 ·
I recently put some chrome engine bay decorations on my 5.7L HEMI while getting it ready for car shows this year including a piece over the coolant tank. The engine is mostly stock with just a CAI, throttle body, and a catback. Recently the temps have been hotter then usual not overheating, but I can smell coolant. The car only has 30,000 miles of mostly easy driving, could the cover be trapping to much heat or could it be something else causing the temps to climb? I've been told my thermostat may be starting to go bad
 

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#2 ·
I just in general wouldn't think a cover would increase heat. And that's just the overflow tank. Possible you loosened the cap or hose underneath when installing?

A Guy
 
#3 ·
That's what I thought too and yeah I did loosen the cap by accident and it spat coolant all over the first time I drove long enough for it to heat up, but I cleaned it up and tighten up the cap. But I can still smell it whenever it heats up, its also running hotter then usual, I ran it from California to AZ climbing grades and full throttle and never went over 208 now it's at 215 on my 2 Mile drive to work
 
#4 ·
If you smell coolant, I would check for leaks at the water pump, hoses, heater core, radiator cap, radiator, etc. Make sure the coolant level is correct as well. You may want to pressure check the system and see if it loses pressure which indicates a leak. You could also have a head gasket or intake manifold leak as well.
 
#5 ·
How would I be able to check for head gasket or manifold leaks? I don't have any smoke from the exhaust.
 
#8 ·
The thermostat is literally a 5 minute replacement. You can even leave the hose attached to the housing. I've had two replace my thermostat twice. Both times the spring was broken.
 
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#9 ·
If you spilled coolant the odor can linger for a long time. The few times coolant has been spilled or leaked out I've always resorted to rinsing the (cold) engine (or radiators, wherever the leak occurred) with tons of water to remove any trace of any coolant.


I want no lingering coolant odor because any odor of coolant is a sign of a leak. So if I smell coolant it not because I or a tech was sloppy and spilled some coolant it is because there is a leak.


Head gasket leaks are rare. T-stat failures are rare.


Best advice I can offer is get the cooling system pressure tested. This is done "cold" and while this can find "big" leaks it may not find the smaller leaks.


If you want you can do your own pressure test. With the engine cold top up the coolant level with distilled water. Do not over fill but bring the level up near the max level. Be sure you put the cap on correctly, do not cross thread it, and be sure you tighten it down all the way, but don't over tighten it either.


Turn off the AC. Start the engine and go for a drive around your neighborhood. You want to drive the car in "city" or town traffic which based on my experience gets the engine coolant (and oil) temperature up quicker than hitting the freeway. If you can monitor coolant temperature via some digital dash display -- the analog tempreature gauge is useless for this, it is little more than an animated idiot light, that's best. Or with cars that have no digital coolant temperature display I use an OBD2 code reader/data viewer to monitor coolant temperature via the OBD2 interface.


Ideally you want the coolant temperature to the point the radiator fan is triggered to some on. With previous cars this was 212F. But it could be 215F or some other temperature.


You want to be sure the fan come on.


On your driveway raise RPMs a bit above idle a while until the radiator fan just comes on. Then shut off the engine. The heat load of the engine will raise coolant temperature and pressure and with everything hot if there's a leak you'll know it. You'll smell anti-freeze and probably see hot coolant at least dripping from some place.


It might be from the water pump seal, as this is often where a leak develops. But it can be from the radiator -- where the top or bottom "tank" mates to the core is a common leak area -- but radiator cores have been known to leak, too.


A hose may be bad or a hose connection is loose.


In one case -- with another car -- the coolant tank had developed a split along the mold seam at the bottom of the tank. When I got the engine hot this seam opened up and gushed hot coolant. But after I let the car sit overnight to cool down I added about a gallon of distilled water the next morning and started the engine and with no leak sign was able to drive the car a couple of miles through town to the dealer to get the coolant tank replaced. The tank on the drive never leaked. Once the old tank was out of the car it was clear the tank had been leaking for a while. But I never spotted any coolant under the car. This highlights how a hot pressure test can turn up a leak that might escape discovery by some other means.
 
#11 ·
Thank you everyone for your insight! I'm young and this is my first car so all the information is much appreciated, I think it was the lingering smell from when I was lazy and didn't tighten down the cap, cause it has gone away now after a few times. Last night I went and drove fairly hard to try and see if I could raise the temps, including holding RPMS in park to heat it up quickly and it never went over 210. And no smell this time so I think it's all good, I'm still going to get a pressure test done within a week when I do my oil change just to be sure.
 
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