So the weathers been getting colder and inevitability i turned my heat on and discover my "new" car has a coolant leak. The heating has that typical syrupy smell. I did a quick forum search and googled it and nothing. Is there anything common that goes wrong with 850s that i can look for?

 

Pressure-test the cooling system.

With the hood/bonnet open, start the engine and look for leak. Stop the engine immediately if coolant sprays out.

Check:
- Radiator, especially the seam between the aluminium & resin portions.
- Check the reservoir cap.
- Check water pump by removing the 12mm bolt on the timing belt cover and wiggle it upward. The water pump is on lower-left in that area.
- Check all coolant connections. The heater core may leak with age; check the connections at the firewall.
- Check in side the cabin under the dash.

As a temporary remedy, make sure to keep the correct coolant level. NEVER drive with the coolant reservoir low.

Others will be chiming in soon.


JPN

 

Are you getting an coolant on the passenger side of the car? It sounds like your heater core may be on it's way out.

 

X2. Pull the rug back on both sides of the tunnel under the dash. Remove the side panels - 1 screw each toward the rear of the panels. Look under the heater core for signs of leaking. Even if you see no signs of leaking onto the tunnel, odor inside the cabin indicates a heater core leak. It's not a bad DIY if you tackle it yourself and there are writeup aplenty.

 

when i orginally bought the car, the coolant resevoir was cracked and leaking coolant, im supposing cause the shop owner had some idiot top off all the fliuds and he prob overfilled it. I replaced the piece and the coolant is about halfway between the min and max line, and hasnt moved since. im up at school atm but should be home ina week or two, ill check it out and post back

p.s. I dont know if it makes any difference, but a while back my a/c got messed up too and i was checking the system, and the pressure at 120psi

 

If the coolant level is stationary, I can only assume that the leak has stopped and residual coolant somewhere is giving you the odor.

How's the condition of the coolant in the reservoir? I hope there is not a sign of oil/fuel.


JPN

 

when i installed the new resevior, i cleaned it out first and transfered the original coolant into it. It didnt seem like there was any oil or contaminants in there

 

That is strange, that the coolant has no contamination and the level has not changed, yet you can still smell it.....

I can only assume that there is a very slight leak, that produces minimal steam under pressure. I would check rubber hose connections/cooling system components to see if you can locate signs of leak.


JPN