So im workin on tradin my 95 850 5speed, but the guy noticed the smell from the heat. I believe its from those heater core o-rings, but could be wrong, any input?

My coolant level and oil are both pretty stable, and there are no signs of either in the other. any ideas on where this is coming from?

 

If you had coolant splashed in the engine compartment, that will come into the cabin, especially when the fan is blowing.

Turn "ReCirc" on and see if the smell goes or stays. Any dampness on the footwell carpets?

 

No dampness on the footwell carpets, not that i noticed atleast. When i turned on re-circ, i think it may have gone away, tough to say though cause the smell was faint this time. Im hoping its the o-rings, or some coolant in the engine bay cause i really want this e30 lol

 

it really only becomes bad if i dont use the heat for a while, say a couple days. then the first time when you turn it on, my car smells like a damned ihop for a while, but goes away

 

it's your heater core going out. The way everything is designed, the coolant runs UNDER the carpet, which has a rubber backing, so it never gets wet. It's seeping now, but it'll start dripping soon, then it'll turn into a stream. Fix it ASAP. Get a Behr heater core- FCP has them, make sure you change the o-rings at the same time. It's not a hard job- there's a write- up somewhere on here. I can do them in ~half an hour, starting with pulling the car in and getting the tools out, to ending with topping off the coolant. Average home mechanic can do it in 1-2 hours easy.

 

i just dished out dough on a new radiator, hows the aftermarket model fcp sells? im trying to trade my car atm so im prob going to go with that

 

Aftermarket FCP heater core is fine. I've done several heater cores. They're very easy. Use a plastic garbage bag under the core when you're removing it. That way you can catch every drop.

 

im assuming i should also drain my coolant beforehand

 

If it hasn't been done in a while, now's the time to do it. Otherwise, you can clamp the hoses (if they're in good condition) and not worry about draining them.

 

The unit FCP sells is actually a Behr heater core- they supply the OEM ones. It's basically an OEM unit.

 

and don't re-fill it with tap water use distilled ... tap water is why the core went bad to many minerals in it

 

Absolutely, i was sure to use distilled water when i changed out my radiator a couple weeks earlier. I ended up not even draining the coolant/clamping the hose when i changed out the core, i just plugged the hole with a little rubber stopper.

The job ende up being alot easier than i thought it would be. only problem i ran into was getting the new heatercore into position, I mashed it a bit and ended up mangling some of the fins on it