I have a 19 max sv and since new I’ve noticed that after driving when car is off I can notice a coolant odor. Not losing any coolant but was wondering if this is a common occurrence? In my mind their shouldn’t be any odor?

 

I have a '17 SR and recently experienced the same... Chicagoland has had a record number of 90+ degree days this year and once the temperatures started rising early in the summer I began to notice a small whiff of what I thought to be the familiar sweet smell of coolant after parking in my garage (out of the wind).

Talked to my service advisor and he informed me that this issue is common in the 8th gen Maxima when temperatures start to climb and that there is a TSB published noting that "its normal". I know, sounds like a pat answer but I figured that I was about a month or so away from my next oil change so I would monitor and bring it up the next time I was in if warranted. Over the next several weeks, the odor became more noticeable. I scheduled an appointment and asked that it be looked into formally.

What were the findings? The cooling system was fully tested with no trouble found. The one item that was discovered however was a slightly warped oil pan. A small leak had appeared and the drippings were apparently finding its way to one of the pipes. A replacement oil pan was ordered and installed two days later and the sweet smell I had been noticing was no longer present. Go figure...

All this to say that I highly doubted their findings and would have bet a paycheck that I was smelling coolant. Turns out I was wrong... Apparently synthetic oil can also have a bit of a sweet smell if being burned off too...

 

Thank you for the valuable information!!

 

I have experience this antifreeze aroma since my first Nissan Altima SL in 2007. Now the same with my '17 Maxima. My brother's '16 Maxima has the same smell. I feel this is normal for Nissans. Otherwise none of them use or leak not a drop of antifreeze.

 

Yea, I’ve had that smell on my 17. You need to fill exactly to the line on the reservoir. Otherwise it will escape from the top. I believe there’s some sort of auxiliary whole on top of the tank. It will leak on this tubular thing(see pic) with rubber top( I’m not sure what it is but it’s a part of the engine and it gets hot) . Once coolant gets there it will evaporate making your interior smell unpleasant. And also the interior intake for your AC is on right side so it some how gets through the hook insulation( Insulation is pretty bad you can check for rust spots along engine bay on the body)

 

When my Maxima Platinun was new back in Jan 2018, I noticed the same smell, took it to the dealer and they could not find anything. Today the smell is not present or maybe I just got used to it....But I'm sure I smelled the coolant for a long time