Recently, when I turn my car off, I can smell what seems to be anti-freeze on the inside of the car. I'm no car expert by any means so I'm not really sure what to look for. But there's no leak on the ground or anything. My gauge doesn't go up any more than normal so I assume it's not overheating, (yet at least). Could it be leaking under the hood and just not hitting the ground?

 

Sounds like it could be the heater core maybe has developed a pinhole or something. The heater core is inside a box under the center of the dash and if/when it leaks it's supposed to drip onto the ground through a tube that projects through the firewall As soon as the engine is off, the pressure drops and no more leaks. If your antifreeze level starts to drop I'll bet that's what it is. It's not particularly expensive but on my son's 98 it was it is a real pain to replace. I don't look forward to ever having to do that again!

 

I agree with 98Z34 sounds like a bad heater core. I changed mine on my 04 ss and it was not fun. You have to drill out the plastic rivets on the heater box and here is no room under there. Also when mine completely failed it filled the passenger side floor with antifreeze causing a two day cleanup. The heater core was also an Item that nobody had in stock so I had to wait for 2 days to get it.

 

Well, that's no fun. Can I keep putting anti freeze in it until I can afford to get the heater core or is it absolutely urgent? And is it expensive to have a mechanic fix it?

 

If its not leaking in the car it may be ok for a while but it won't get any better. There is a lot of labor involved if you have a mechanic fix it so it may be a bit pricey

 

You can bypass it until you're ready to fix it though. I pulled the hoses off at the firewall (actually I cut them) and joined them with a plastic tube you can get for $1 at any parts store. You won' t have heat, but you also won't have the smells and worry.

 

I agree, either fix it OR bypass it until you can afford to fix it. It's just slowly going to get worse and you never know where you'll be when it finally gets REAL bad.