All,

I need your help again.

Today I ran an errand and a few hours later I noticed my garage smelled like fish. I know that the fish smell is usually either 1) fish or 2) melting wiring.

I then ran another errand and when I got back in the car noticed the smell inside the car. Long story short I now see what I think is coolant dripping on the floor on the passenger side of my car from under the dash.

Any and all help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

 

Probably your heater core leaking. Thats the only source of coolant inside the vehicle.

 

I was afraid of that.

UPDATE: Just for more info. The leaking seems to have stopped/greatly lessened by moving the car to level ground instead of my uphill driveway. Also, there is no smell under the hood and no leaking on the ground.

 

Also, I don't know much about heater cores. Aside from the mess/smell, I can run the car like this as long as I keep an eye on the temp, right? I don't want to, but I ned to at least get it somewhere to get fixed, and with tomorrow being the holiday I'm in bad shape as far as that goes. I may have to drive it for another day. How safe am I? I haven;t noticed it running hot yet. This all started this morning.

 

you should be ok. If your having a shop do the work make sure they pull the carpet back and dry it all out good. When mine went out It took me three days to get it clean and dry. Also the antifreeze ate the paint in the floorboards right off. If I had to do it again I'd pay someone I think cu it's a pain in the neck, literally. Also the heater core had to be ordered no one had them in stock for my 2004 ss/sc. Good luck

 

You could try temporarily bypassing the heater core until you can get it serviced. This will prevent more coolant from getting in your car AND reduce the risk of overheat (not to mention the constant topping off).

 

Got lucky to get the car in today to get fixed.

Does anyone have any suggestions on getting the carpet clean?
I'm toying with a shop vac, a rented steam cleaner, and or cutting the carpet under the console and seat and removing that section for cleaning of some kind and drying for a few days, then maybe even replacing the padding. Any thoughts/opinions are appreciated.

 

Bissel makes a nice little "spot" cleaner that works great!! It sprays the cleaning solution you in it and sucks the stuff back up. It used to be called "The Little Green Machine". Handy to have for any carpet cleaning.

Seeing as you carpet was soaked with antifreeze, it might be wise to remove some of the trim and seats and lift the carpet, use a rag and wipe out whatever is pooled in that area.

 

Yes and Yes. The Green Machine works excellent - it helped get all the winter salt out of my carpet. And defiantly pull up the carpet and get that out. I had a problem with my drain and my carpet got soaked. At least an inch of standing water. Even if you suck it out, when you step on the carpet again you'll bring it up again. You may even need to change the padding underneath the carpet because you might have ruined it. You can get it cheap at a True Value or something like that.

 

Thanks for the help everyone.

The shop confirmed that it is the heater core, and are replacing it today. They are going to soak it up the best they can without digging into it too much.

Based on suggestions, right now, I am leaning towards renting a rug doctor steam cleaner for $20 and using that to clean the carpet. I think I'll pull it back and soak up everything under it and possibly even replace the padding just for good measure. Good news is that the carpet is ebony so it's still looks ok, just need to get the coolant all out of it.