i notice when i first start my air, it smells like coolant. not like a knock-your-socks-off coolant smell, it's barely noticeable. any idea what i should check into?

coolant levels look fine, but my fluids were just topped off at nissan. i'll keep an eye on it and update if necessary.

 

heater coil??

 

did you mean heater core?


a slow leak in the heater core might be pooling inside the cabin....
this would be pita as the whole dash has to be taken out to replace the heater core.

other possibilities are that coolant is leaking some where in the engine bay and the smell is coming through the vents.... (like burning oil on the exhaust)

 

definitely sounds like a small coolant leak, maybe your head gasket, do you smell coolant from your tail pipe while the car is running? i had that problem and it turned out to be my head gasket. good luck tho.

 

I had a similar problem that ended up being a hole in one of the hoses from the heater core. Everytime I ran my air, it smelled like coolant so bad I had to turn it off
i replaced the hose and lessened the odor.

 

i found the problem. epic brain fart.

a dirty rag i was using at the shop the other day. i thought i rinsed it out pretty well, apparently not. the air must have been hitting my rag and swirling the smell around.

 

 

you left a dirty rag in the engine bay for several days ???

 

wow....