There’s a Sweet, Musty Smell Blowing Out of My Vents

If you turn on your car, truck, or utility vehicle’s heater and end up with a sweet, musty odor, chances are your heater core is leaking. Hot antifreeze/coolant circulates through the core and warms the air when you turn on the heater or defroster. If the heater core is leaking, the sweet, musty odor you are detecting is engine coolant. Some people say that the odor reminds them of maple syrup or candy. Either way, Techway Automotive can inspect your heater core and replace it if it has gone bad. Here are other signs that you have a malfunctioning heater core underneath your vehicle’s dashboard.

Foggy Windows

Because there is coolant in the air being blown into your vehicle’s passenger cabin, your windows will fog up when you turn on the heater or defroster. Unfortunately, cracking a window will not resolve the problem. Rather, your windows will continue to fog until you replace the leaking heater core.

Lukewarm or Cold Air

Another sign that you have a problem with a heater core leak is lukewarm or cold air blowing through the vents when you turn on the heater. If the heater core does not have hot engine coolant circulating through its tubes, there is nothing to warm the air before it enters the passenger cabin. Consequently, your heater will not work properly, which can be a real problem during the winter months.

Overheating Engine

Even though you have cool air blowing through the vents, a leaking core can cause your engine to overheat. This is because the engine is losing coolant through the core. Even if it’s cold outside, if enough coolant has leaked out of the heater core, your engine will overheat quickly and run too hot until you turn it off. It’s important that you avoid driving your automobile when the engine is overheating. Doing so can cause severe damage to the engine.

>h4>Wet Floorboard

Finally, as we mentioned above, the heater core is underneath the dashboard on the passenger side of your car, truck, or utility vehicle. Consequently, if there is a leak, the floorboard on that side will get wet. This sign definitely points to a leak in the heater core.

Call Techway Automotive in Opp or Dothan, AL, or Blakely, GA, today if you suspect that your vehicle has a heater core problem. We will inspect the core and replace it if necessary. If the problem isn’t the heater core, we will find out what the problem is and repair it.