What does antifreeze in the exhaust smell like?

[JCruse]

My 80 has been smelling like unburned gas when the engine is cold for a while now, cant find the cause, but lately I'm picking up another odor that smells a little like fresh paint. Could this be the "sweet smell" I hear of in reference to leaky HG's?

 

[Tux318]

Mine has the rich smell when cold also. I get the added semi-sweet smell when I run 10% ethanol gas.

 

[dansawyer]

The smoke color is white. I thought it also dissipated faster than burning oil.

 

[greentruck]

It will smell a lot like anti-freeze.

Unless your cooling system was overfilled and the excess pushed out of the overflow tank, any time you smell anti-freeze around your truck, be suspicious. On the other hand, you can be driving around and start smelling it. You start worrying, then pull up behind someone at the next light with an obvious drip, telling you to probably relax, but look things over when you get stopped just to be sure.

 

[NLXTACY]

My exhaust smells like cinnamon. I add it myself.

Yeah, burning coolant will smell sweet. Put your hand over the tailpipe and you will see condensate and it will smell sweet.

 

[greentruck]

The smoke color is white. I thought it also dissipated faster than burning oil.

If things are that bad, you'll be smelling it strongly at that point.

 

[CRUISER CARTEL]

My 80 has been smelling like unburned gas when the engine is cold for a while now, cant find the cause, but lately I'm picking up another odor that smells a little like fresh paint. Could this be the "sweet smell" I hear of in reference to leaky HG's?

Could be the gas as previously mentioned, Do you try different stations? Some areas in the states have a different blend of gas for winter ,for pollution control,, which contains less additives,,, also why it's a little cheaper in winter months. Has ur gas mileage changed at all? Do you run any fuel or fuel injection additives?


CRUISER CARTEL

 

[jonheld]

My exhaust smells like cinnamon. I add it myself.

Yeah, burning coolant will smell sweet. Put your hand over the tailpipe and you will see condensate and it will smell sweet.

To be clear, all internal combustion engines will have water in the exhaust. H2O is a byproduct of burning a hydrocarbon. Condensate on your hand from the exhaust in itself is not a sign of something sinister.

 

[NLXTACY]

To be clear, all internal combustion engines will have water in the exhaust. H2O is a byproduct of burning a hydrocarbon. Condensate on your hand from the exhaust in itself is not a sign of something sinister.

I wasn't implying that you only get condensate when you have a HG issue. I was pointing out that the condensate you DO get will smell of antifreeze.

But thanks for the clarification.

 

[FZJohnny]

Smells of a possible HG failure!
But who knows

 

[BILT4ME]

The white smoke from burning antifreeze does not necessarily dissipate faster than oil smoke. I had an old Chev. w/ 235 inline 6 that broke the head in half while driving, and it was smoking so bad when I pulled into a gas station, I had two cop cars pull in right after me thinking the gas station was on fire. You could not see more than 5 feet in front of you while at the pumps and it engulfed all 6 pumps under the canopy. I did not shut it off until I had confirmation of being able to have it towed to an enclosed tow lot. Once it shut off, it was hydrolocked. That was a very long and arduous night.

The "sweet smell" I guess I would describe possibly as burned hot chocolate or if you boiled 7up (sprite) on the stove.

 

[Mighty690]

My $0.02: you could get a little oil sample and be a little more scientific/positive for $25.

 

[Rudster]

Another thing to check is your PHH. I had that smell once and it was from the start of a leaky PHH

 

[half k cruiser]

These trucks don't have any known head gasket issues so I don't know what it could be

 

[JCruse]

Another thing to check is your PHH. I had that smell once and it was from the start of a leaky PHH

My truck smelled of antifreeze since I got it. The PHH was leaking slightly and I never saw it. Finally got that taken care of with the Samco silicone and Breeze clamp kit. THAT won't be leaking again.

So burning AF smells just like leaking AF? Okay, got it.
This smell is more like paint (mixed with gas) so the Ethanol explanation fits best as I did start smelling it right around the time we switch to winter blend around here. (It's about 20 degrees outside tonight)

Also, mileage is the same and I'm not currently running any additives.

Do these trucks all smell extremely rich on cold start-up? Or is it just me and Tux318?






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