Coolant smell,2003 2.0L/76K miles

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06-30-2008, 08:52 PM

perry

Thread Starter

Join Date: Jun 2008

Posts: 4

Coolant smell,2003 2.0L/76K miles

Just bought a used protege 5. Nice little car. has the 2.0L engine. It has 76k miles. The dealership where it was originally bought as a new car had all the maintenance history. The history was unremarkable...no big glaring red flags. I, did, however buy the extended warranty..just so i wouldn't be holding the bag in the event of a unexpected glitch...

First thing to be fixed was O-rings on the fuel rail and a vacuum line...it was idling rough and that was a good fix. I also had the trans serviced, as the extended warranty doesn't warranty things that haven't been serviced as recommended. So I am catching up all the service things.

I am noticing a distinct coolant smell whenever I run the car. I put water in the overflow container when I got the car a week and a half ago and also topped off the radiator...The temp. gauge stays steady. reads a normal temp..doesn't spike hot or anything..
I have put maybe 300 miles on the car and the fluid in the overflow is half gone, and the radiator is still fine. I see no leaks, see nothing around the head...my husband thinks it's the heater core...
any ideas...?
My extended warranty doesn't go into effect for another 2 weeks or so (i don't understand the waiting period crap)...

Thanks.
Perry