Today I decided to clean out my car and got a surprise. When I pulled my drivers side floor mat I noticed that the bottom of it was a little wet. The wetness felt a little slick but I could not smell an odor from it. So I rubbed the carpet and it was a little wet as well.

My thoughts is that I have a heater core leak but the G-05 coolant has very little odor and the color is a slight brown so that didn't help either. So, for anyone use the Valvoline HOAT G-05 coolant, do understand that it has very little odor. I also have a gallon of the Volvo coolant which guess what... has very little odor as well. Just a head up to watch out for heater core leaks closely with those coolant flavors.

 

Are you about the Volvo coolant?? Because I could always smell the coolant because its a sweet smell.

 

This stuff has very little odor. Really, I could NOT smell it.

 

Well, I did have a coolant leak at the base of my core. I was the seals at the bottom of the inlet pipes and not the core. Since I pulled the core I went ahead and replaced it.

 

Yep, had mine fail around six months ago...

 

Drove my car today with the core that I purchased from eBay and yuk! the odor is bad. Like some kind of burnt aluminum odor as soon as the core warmed up. I actually think it is toxic because it burns my nose a little and made my tongue numb.

I have contacted the company in the past about someone having an odor complaint and they told me that they would replace any core that had an issue and track down the source of the problem so it could be corrected. The down side of this is, I purchased the core in July.

I'll post back with results.

 

Eww sorry to hear. You could've put it in the dishwasher before installation to abate the smell.

Heater Cores A Closer Look - FWD/AWD 1998 and Prior - Volvospeed Forums

If it doesn't get better in the next couple of weeks you pull it out and scour it down with soap and water.

Drive with the windows cracked until then.. :-P

 

I bought mine from the dealer.. $340 :-\ but all is well.