help antifreeze smell

[C5 Bob]

Need Help (antifreeze smell)
This weekend while attending a car show it was a warmer day and I had to idle in with others taking 30 min or so. I have read on many post about 230 fans ingage and they were coming on and temp dropped back down to 220. Once parked I opened my hood and got the smell of antifreeze. None leaking that I could see. 81000 km. This is my first vette bought last August. Any help guys and gals would be greatly appreciated. Just dont want to hurt my baby.

 

[ddgermann]

So nothing dripping anywhere? If not, possibly vapour coming from your overflow container. The car may have been on the verge of boiling over and some pressure was being released to the overflow.

Edit: Your car has enough KMs on it that I would definitely be looking at the radiator. Likely needs a good cleaning. I know lots of guys here change thermostats and fan kick in settings to offset this heating issue. I’m sure you will get some good advice from your fellow C5 owners.

 

[C5 Bob]

So nothing dripping anywhere? If not, possibly vapour coming from your overflow container. The car may have been on the verge of boiling over and some pressure was being released to the overflow.

Edit: Your car has enough KMs on it that I would definitely be looking at the radiator. Likely needs a good cleaning. I know lots of guys here change thermostats and fan kick in settings to offset this heating issue. I’m sure you will get some good advice from your fellow C5 owners.

thanks ddgermann hopefully its something simple I've never smelt it till then.

 

[C SEVEN GS Bob]

When was the coolant changed last? Might be due for a good flush and some new GM coolant. If you do drain it be careful with the plastic drain on the bottom of the radiator. I broke mine while doing my C5.

 

[Hotrodron]

I agree with ddgermann, your radiator probably needs to be cleaned, as C5's suck up all kinds of road debris. My car has only 25000 miles(not sure what that is in km's) and when I changed my air intake to a Vararam system I couldn't believe all the pine needles that were stuck in my radiator. If you do decide to clean yours be careful with the 2 plastic clips on each side of the radiator shroud (located in the center), as I broke one of mine. I also installed a screen to stop debris from being sucked up.

 

[Black 03 Z06]

Crawl underneath and see if at the top of the rad support there is an accumulation of debris. Like Ron and Derek said they seem to suck up a lot of crap. I just gently scooped the mess out with my hand, almost a regular maintenance job.

Good luck hope it nothing serious.

 

[Riley P]

My coolant tank had a small crack in it so I had to replace it. What color is your coolant? If it is orange, you should be fine, if it's brownish, oxygen is getting in somewhere and you have a leak. The rad could also have a pin hole that seeps coolant but not enough for it to drip. Also look for any wetness around the water pump as my pump was good, but the gaskets let go and I had to change those.