Strong smell of antifreeze in car....

[T.Ferrino]

Ever since Ive had my williams(nearly a year), Ive noticed the smell of coolant inside the car more so when hot. I know its not very good to breath in so I had a look to see if I could see any leaks, I found the top of the exspansion bottle had a small crack right on the seem and I could see a little blue coolant around there. Also when I have been working on the car with the engine still warm Ive heard the exspansion bottle cap hissing, is this normal as Ive not noticed it on cars Ive had in the past?

Ive now replaced the bottle but still get the smell! Im having to drive around with the windows open its that bad.

Has anyone had this problem before or know what it might be?

Thanks

 

[Cord-172]

It definately sounds like that crack mate - Get some kind of gum on it till you can get it fixed!! - Youll be pissed on alcohol fumes before you know it!! (get pulled over by the cops too

 

[T.Ferrino]

Ive replace the exspansion bottle with a new one but still get the smell.

 

[GR7]

Could be the heater matrix. A friend had a similar thing recently with a 306 XSi Pug and also had a bit of a curry type smell in the car too.

 

[T.Ferrino]

I hope its not the matrix has that looks like a nightmare to get to.

Ive just read in the manual that there are to types of exspansion bottle caps, a blue and a brown one, can anyone with a williams tell me which is the right one?

 

[Tonys]

Mine does that too sometimes, let me know if you get to the bottom of the prob.

Tony

 

[FunkyASFunk]

i had a leak on my valver and it was really tiny.. when i found it i took the pipe to renault and they told me that this pipe had been super seeded by a newer one with a heat sheld (due to them melting) it only leaked when the engine was really hot too! it was on a 92 J so god knows when they started fitting the new one!



Yours sounds like the matrix thogh, check for any coolent in the footwell heater ducts thats where it goes when the matrix leaks!

 

[T.Ferrino]

I cleaned up the exspansion cap today, sprayed rubber & nylon lubricant on it. The smell went totally for about an hour or so but after stopping the engine for a bit and restarting there was a little of the smell again but it soon cleared. Im pretty confident this is where the problem lies as it has reduced the smell by about 90%. So I think I will get a new cap from reno-probabley costs about a tenner.

 

[GR7]

Thats good!