I have a slight coolant smell after drive from outside. I checked everything with my untrained eye, and only thing that looked "not like new" is this part that goes from the coolant tank. Can I kindly ask for the forum's wisdom? Thank you.
Car is 2016, 30k miles. Coolant slightly overfilled and I opened and closed the coolant cap at 5 clicks. Also the car is just after PPI and come back with 0 faults or warnings or defects from the mechanic.

 

Could be - but black light it in the dark like a crime scene - coolant has fluorescein. Scan everywhere especially the firewall, Please report back.

 

Thank you, ordered an UV light with yellow glasses, will report back.

 

Have had my F-Type for 10 years and 45k. Have smelled coolant from day one near the engine compartment, never had coolant loss and have had the cooling system pressure tested every year at its annual inspection. No issues detected. I suspect it just burps occassionally after a hard run.

 

Check the plastic Y pipe. They will leak at some point.

 

That is reassuring really... Might it be just vapor from the coolant cap valve? In my mind smell=leak, like how else can you smell it But with no coolant loss it is a mystery. I guess you are still on the original pipes?

Also to note, I think the smell comes from the front of the car.

 

Could be a slow leak somewhere. Leak from cap or tiny leak from reservoir under pressure. Commonly the coolant pump weeps very slightly. Doesn't take much to smell like coolant - evaporate a little bit and it's pretty smelly. My bet is coolant level is probably changing a tiny bit, but might be so small as not to notice.

 

OK so I have checked the engine bay under UV light, in pitch black garage, with yellow gasses. Everything looked intact, including the overflow hose I asked about. I did not disassemble the bonnet and intake, so cannot report from the front. After 3 days when I opened the coolant cap it still "popped". Somewhere I red that you can put an endoscope down to the Y pipe, so I did that too. It is a bit tricky operation and I don't have a 360degree view of the situation, but I managed to take a few pictures (under normal light). Well, here I am not so confident...

 

@J444G Even without the UV light and just the endoscope light I see specks of fluorescence, and that suggests you DO have a coolant leak.

Next step is to do a pressure test, but even if it passed it is still worrisome unless this is from a prior repair where some coolant was spilled.

If you have the old style pipes it is time to upgrade to the aluminum pipes. There are many sad stories on the forum about overheating from failure of these original pipes leading to engine loss in just minutes.

 

Thanks for this. Literally just happened. Of course, I was worried about the pipe, but I think that this has happened before. I was going to post something exactly to this unexpected "puke".......
At least it is possible. Many thanks.

 

Thanks for this. Literally just happened. Of course, I was worried about the pipe, but I think that this has happened before. I was going to post something exactly to this unexpected "puke".......
At least it is possible. Many thanks.

 

I have the same experience as Unhingd. I swear I can open the hood after engine shutdown and will always get a faint smell of coolant. Car uses no coolant and I have changed the coolant. I think it's part of the car smell with rubber, plastic and coolant all contributing.

Had the car 7+ years now.
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The first 5 years of our ownership, we smelled coolant OCCASIONALLY. Would need a few ounces' top-up at the overflow reservoir every 6 months.

Once every few months, there would be a small stain of coolant on the underside of the bonnet (RF area) too.

When we had our aluminum pipes installed, we got the 'deluxe' kit that included the water pump. No more smells or addition of coolant needed.



Front side, nothing visible


Just a trace!

 

I have ordered pipes and the pump, and I am interested how the endoscope photos will be interpreted.

 

@J444G You have inspired me to do mine too preemptively. I will also do some SC work (coupler and new fluid) while I am at it. Your endoscope shows dried coolant with flecks of fluorescein.

 

@J444G Any updates?

 

I am waiting for parts I don't have my own garage so I will disassemble the car then, so it has a minimum garage occupied time.

 

With the plastic pipes, it's not a matter of "if" it will leak rather it's "when". All of these cars built prior to the upgraded components will have this issue so it's better to be proactive in replacing the "Y" pipe assembly vs taking the chance of overheating the engine and doing permanent damage. As a DYI project, it's pretty inexpensive.

 

OK so we have dismantled the parts and by naked eye everything looks like new. Y pipe, cross pipe, heater pipe, pump, oil cooler pipe, overflow hose, throttle body hose. The oxidation on the block is probably from standing water and/or moisture from the SC foam which I will not put back, because it is everywhere under the SC.
I did not check the thermostat yet. Only one suspicious thing was o-ring on oil cooler pipe, that is quite hard and a bit squeezed on one side.

 

@J444G Keep up the great detective work - that could definitely be the source of the fluorescein flecks you saw via endoscope a while back.