I do the opposite - I flip on the defroster right after starting my car, and the cold air defrosts my windows within a couple of minutes. Then I flip it over to the vents/floor to heat the passenger compartment.

 

Just a quick update on heater core: I'm about to quit while I'm ahead. It's a freaking hassle to remove the plastic steak screws. I'm just going to try a radiator stop leak which did help my friends 95 monte core leak (he told after I bought the core) or just bypass and tackle it later next year when its warmer or get some quotes on how much.

 

My heater core is not leaking for sure and days like we've had lately my windshield will fog right away and clears in 5 minutes. Your coolant smell would be the concern for me. The fresh air duct draws from the wiper cowel and you may have an engine compartment coolant leak and that's where the smell can come from. I've also seen washer fluid that smells a lot like coolant and when you spray your windshield it all runs down into that vent area and onto the cabin filter if it has one. If you don't get the coolant smell when it's on recirculate I would rule out the heater core altogether.

 

And don't use stop leak it will cause a bigger headache than you want to try and fix. After you do change the core (if you need to) the stop leak will clog up the new one and won't be any good after.

 

I sould live in the north pole,i drive with windows down all year unless its raining or snowing.Just want to defrost my window