Ihave a 2006 Monte Carlo SS w/ just under 17K miles. Car is completely stock. Lately I have been getting an antifreeze smell when I drive the car. I have had to fill the overflow bottle once in approximately 1000 miles of driving (a month's time). I cannot see anywhere that it is leaking from hoses or the radiator, and there is nothing ever on the ground.The smell is more prevalent when I am running the air conditioner and with the Max air button pressed, but only when I get out of the car after driving somewhere. I thought it was mainly on hot days, but I smelled it again tonight and it was rather cool, mid-70's, and I was not running the air. And as info, the temperature gauge always reads the same when at operating temperature, in the middle between hot and cold.

Does anyone know of any problems regarding these cars sucking coolant or what could be causing the smell? My fear is that it could be a head gasket. I have had problems with other cars and head gaskets, and I don't want to relive that with this car. Any guidnce or thought would be appreciated. Since it is still under warranty, the dealer will be seeing the car, but I wanted to be more prepared than to listen to them try and not do any work on the car to solve the issue.

 

Well being that it is still under warrantee, it doesnt really matter how much work they do to it to fix the problem, as long as it is fixed. Let them do their work and then ask what the problem was. Tell us what they tell you. Since you say that the problem gets worse when the max a/c is turned on, I would say that maybe the heater core is leaking a bit. Max a/c takes air from inside instead of outside so it may be sucking in air right by the heater core therefore you smell it stronger. Is the carpet ever wet? If you get down under the dash on thepassenger side, can you smell antifreeze?

 

I thought about the heater core, but I never get a very strong consistent smell inside the car. I will check under the dash though. My carpets are also not wet. The majority of the time I smell the coolant is after driving the car and getting out and walking by the front of the car. I would say it normal, but it only started happening the last 2-3 months. I have tracking it to make sure it was a problem and not me being paranoid.

The last time I had this issue was my '93 T-Bird SC and the radiator eventually crapped on me. I have looked all over the radiator, but can find no signs of leaks.

As for dealer, I like to be prepared. I don't like anyone working on my cars, and don't like leaving them at a dealer longer than I have to, especially on a hunt and peck mission like this will mostly be. But they will be seeing me and my MC and I will post what they find.

 

I had a 93 f150 before my monte that had a very tiny leak in the coolant system. It used just enough antifreeze to empty the resevour about every 2 weeks. I put 20 thousand miles on the truck and never had any problems. When you have to really worry is when there is antifreeze in the oil or you can smell/see it coming out the exhaust. Keep us updated on what the dealership finds.

 

Well it's been awhile since I started this thread. I finally had a chance to take the car in to the dealer to have them look at the issue as the car is still under warranty. Work has been nuts for me. The service writer walked up to the car and immediately smelled the antifreeze. I thought it was a hose weeping at the radiator. Turned out to be a water pump leaking. The service writer indicated that it is unusual for these cars to have this problem. They replaced the pump under warranty and everything seems to be ok. Happy with the treatment I received, especially because they did not try to wiggle out of the claim.

Just curious, anyone else have water pump issues w/ the '06-'07 SS's?