Coolant Issue
 

hey guys. i'm totally new here, but a regular on the camaro forums, so i know how helpful any automotive forum can be. anyway:

my mom has a 2001 monte carlo ls wih 162xxx miles, and i just had the coolant flushed about 3 days ago. i've had coolant leaks on my camaro, and other cars i've owned, so i know something isn't right with the monte. you can plainly smell antifreeze, but i can't find a leak anywhere, it's probably burning off too quick. anyway, i'm not too familiar with this car, but the coolant reservoir on the passenger side right beside the engine is nearly completely full. i looked on the side of it, and it has two markings way towards the bottom. i couldn't read the text there, but it looked like one marking was for warm temperature, and one for cool, and seemed to indicate that that's where the coolant level should be for each temperature. it is filled way beyond the top marker, so could this have something to do with me smelling antifreeze? if coolant was spilled during the flush, and i'm sure it was because that tends to always happen, it would've burned off waaaay before now.

It COULD be the cause of the smell if they spilled coolant. I would keep a really close eye on the level, and make sure its not loosing coolant.

The 3.4L is known for leaking coolant from the intake gaskets, and sometimes the head gasket. At that kind of milage, if you have not had either gasket replaced ever before, there is a chance it is leaking from one of those gaskets.

If the level is fine, and does not go down, I would say they just spilled some coolant.

If I was you, I would wash your entire engine bay (make sure to cover the alternator). This will clean up all dirt & grime, and clean any spilt coolant. If you are still smelling coolant after you have cleaned the engine area, then I'd say its a gasket issue.

Just keep a good eye on the levels and make sure you don't see any puddling under / around the car.

And you are right about the notches. One is for hot, the other cold.

Thanks for the input guys, it's much appreciated. I've carefully inspected the spot in the driveway where the car is parked, and I've found nothing for two straight days. I just found it funny that it smelled after the flush, but was perfectly fine before.

Anyway, I'm keeping a close watch on the coolant and oil. As for the car's operating temperature; while idle, it goes right up to half and the fan kicks on. My driveway is very steep and unpaved, so when I drive up it the car is going 2-3 mph with a decent amount of throttle. The temperature guage goes to the mark above the halfway mark, but as soon as I park the car, it goes back down. That's the only time it ever goes over halfway, and that to me is normal considering the load on the car. If it were a gasket, it would start overheating, wouldn't it? That was the case with my 3.8 camaro, and the cavalier i used to have.

The headgasket would cause over heating / air in the system.

If it was the LIM gasket, it would kind of just eat the coolant and you wouldn't be able to tell.

Alrighty, thanks. Sorry for the long posts, just trying to be as descriptive as possible.

No problem, we like people that actually give us information to help them. Just keep an eye out for that LIM gasket.