Coolant smell in cabin, but engine temp is stable, no visible leaks

Started the truck this morning and a smell similar to vanilla simmering in a pot became noticable with the heater fan on.

There didn't appear to be any visible leakage from the engine, and the engine temp appeared to remain stable.

Any ideas as to the source of this?

 

If you just got your oil changed check all of your caps (radiator, oil, etc) as they don't always properly put them back on.

 

No, it was a couple months ago I had the oil changed.

 

Possibly your heater core maybe starting to leak. One way to possible tell if the heater core is leaking is to put your defroster on and if the inside of your windshield fogs up and gets a slippery film on it, the heater core is leaking.

 

If it's the heater core, that would be an expensive repair, wouldn't it?

The truck is a 2011, would a 7 year old truck's heater core fail that soon? It's only got the equivalent of 83,000 miles on it.

 

check passenger's side carpet to see if it's wet

 

Sounds like the heater core. He's right check carpet under the dash for dampness...although it might me a slow leak and not making it out of the box in the dash.

 

Just checked, it's ok.

Definitely need to keep my eyes and nose on this one.

 

Yea definitely keep an eye on it...eventually you may see leakage in the front footwell areas. Also keep an eye on coolant level.

 

Pressure test your system. Coolant should be coming out of the hvac drain tube or be dumping on your carpet. Most parts houses will rent pressure testers or have a shop do it. Pulling the dash isn't hard but it takes time and you will have to evac the ac system. If your heater core is leaking I would do a new evaporator core and expansion valve while you are in there to keep from doing the same thing twice

 

Its the heater core. Easy fix. Might be annoying, but it is easy.