Heater core, maybe?

Driving today and for the first time had the smell of engine coolant coming in through the vents. Same smell with recirc on and off. Engine coolant level is spot on and isn’t low. Any ideas how to check without having to take it in?

2019 SR5 33000 miles.

 

Is the carpet wet

 

No. Pulled the mats and it feels dry.

 

You could pressure test the system and see if it holds. If it doesn’t then look for the leak

 

Need to check for the dreaded bypass leak. You'll see pink stains on the back of the engine and underneath on the transmission bellhousing.

There's no visible drips because its burning off before it his the ground.

Hopefully I'm wrong.

 

When's the last time the coolant was changed? Does the smell go away after running the heater for an extended time?

 

I did a drain and fill a little under two weeks ago. The smell seemed much less almost gone with the heat on. Much stronger smell with the ac on.

 

I didn’t see any.

 

Update. This morning, pulled cabin air filter and noticed mice / rat droppings on top of the filter. The filter smells exactly like the ac smells. Replaced filter. Any ideas on how to try and eat proof the truck aside from peppermint oil?

any reason for the coolant like smell?

 

You need to do the cabin air intake screen mod. That is about the only way to keep rodents out of your HVAC system. It's cheap and easy to do. Do NOT use plastic screen, wire mesh is the way to go.
And what you are smelling is likely their piss. Yayyyyyy....

 

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/rust-varmit-and-ac-clogging-prevention-project.557970/

 

you could disconnect the heater hoses or pinch them and see if it goes away but you might have 2 problems

and has the coolant level gone down

 

Coolant level is at the full line. I switched out the cabin air filter and the smell is gone.

 

If you get a coolant leak inside the air box the windshield can fog up instead of clearing with the defrost on. You can also attach a cotton swab to the drain hose to see if there’s any pink residue.

 

did you ck the radiator also

 

Good to know. I used defrost this morning and it cleared it right up. I also collected water from the drain and smelled it. No coolant smell.

 

No I didn’t actually. But it would drop the reservoir to fill the radiator if it was leaking