Coolant smell in cab

Donolie · March 21, 2018

On my 26 mile trip home tonight from work I got a really strong smell of coolant in the cab. It happened with the blower motor on the lowest setting and the blend doors on floor/defrost. I have a bunch of open recalls and was wondering if this would be covered under the powertrain warranty? The vehicle is a 2014 silverado with 71,000 5.3.

1SLOW1500 · March 21, 2018

On my 26 mile trip home tonight from work I got a really strong smell of coolant in the cab. It happened with the blower motor on the lowest setting and the blend doors on floor/defrost. I have a bunch of open recalls and was wondering if this would be covered under the powertrain warranty? The vehicle is a 2014 silverado with 71,000 5.3.

I would assume you have a coolant light in your tool box? You can look under the dash and coolant would glow under the light. But my guess is you smell burning coolant? Head gasket would be my first thought.
It would be covered however dealer would need to agree is is covered..

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dcheeseman · March 21, 2018

Also maybe a pin size hole in the heater core behind the glove box.

Daniel

kickass audio · March 21, 2018

Being a 2014 like mine, i'd put money on a crack in the radiator near the top. Look around and check the top of your radiator where the plastic sides meet the body of the radiator. Mine cracked on both sides at the top and was a little low on coolant. I took it in for service since it happened to smell just after I bought it used from the dealer and they had replaced the rad and thermostat as a part of the recall below. I drove away with it replaced and then the dealer called and said mine wasn't affected. I argued with them over the phone and they dropped the matter and I didn't pay a dime.

Donolie · March 22, 2018

14 hours ago, 1SLOW1500 said:

I would assume you have a coolant light in your tool box? You can look under the dash and coolant would glow under the light. But my guess is you smell burning coolant? Head gasket would be my first thought.
It would be covered however dealer would need to agree is is covered..

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

Wouldn't I need to add UV dye? I should also add tonight the windows fogged up really bad, so its the heater core. Not really excited to leave my truck at a dealer.

Donolie · March 22, 2018

12 hours ago, kickass audio said:

Being a 2014 like mine, i'd put money on a crack in the radiator near the top. Look around and check the top of your radiator where the plastic sides meet the body of the radiator. Mine cracked on both sides at the top and was a little low on coolant. I took it in for service since it happened to smell just after I bought it used from the dealer and they had replaced the rad and thermostat as a part of the recall below. I drove away with it replaced and then the dealer called and said mine wasn't affected. I argued with them over the phone and they dropped the matter and I didn't pay a dime.

I wonder if the thermostat caused the heater coret to fail. The smell is very strong, and tonight my windows fogged up

Donolie · March 22, 2018

14 hours ago, dcheeseman said:

Also maybe a pin size hole in the heater core behind the glove box.

Daniel

I'm thinking that is the case. Tonight my windows fogged up on my way home so bad I had to roll down my windows to see anything. I'm going to call a dealership tomorrow.

Donolie · March 26, 2018

How do you read a TSB? Reading the two I could find, 15829, and PI1513E, My truck falls under both, 2014, l83, 11th vin Z. GM customer care says my vin is not pulling anything up for thermostat/radiator special coverage. What else am I missing and is there a way I can see what they are searching? Customer care told me to call the NHTSA

Donolie · March 31, 2018

After hours of phone calls to people in call centers in Texas and the Philippines with customer care, and a service writer who would do nothing for me, the service manager at Bill Fox Chevrolet made a phone call to someone and they approved the replacment of the radiator and thermostat which should have been approved in the first place but for some reason it was not pulling up in the system. I got the truck back today and besides the lingering odor of the coolant seems Ok.

Donolie · April 14, 2018

Well I got the truck back again. After three days my truck had the same issues with coolant smell and smoke in the cab. This time Gm said tough luck. I had to pay $1,100 for a new heater core.