I have a 97 f150 with the 5.4l engine. I am smelling antifreeze when I turn the heater on. There is no antifreeze leaking on the floor board nor does it look like I am looseing any from the resivour. There also is no leaks under the truck. Any help you guys can give me would be greatly appreciated. BTW, sorry about the spelling, not the best. lol

 

More than likely your heater core has a leak in it. The leak is not big enough for you to be noticing any water in the floorboard yet. I also have a leak in my heater core and there is no water in the floorboard. The only way i saw water or antifreeze from the heater core leak was when I turned the heater on in the floor and it blew water from the heater duct. The heater core is in the center of the dash, just about the entire dash has to come out in order to replace the core. My truck is a 98 thats why I havent replaced yet. You could try some good bars leak but eventually will haved to replace the heater core

 

Another tell tale clue is when you turn on the defrosters and it really fogs the windshield.

 

well if it is a leak in the heater core than it has to be pretty darn small, cause i dont notice any water coming from the heater duct nor is the windshield fogging up. i did put some bar leak in the radiator but i still notice the smell. some days it is worse than others.

 

i smelled anitfreeze in my truck several weeks before the windshield fogged up and blew from duct. The longer it goes the worse it will get. Drive your truck with the heat off for about 20 minutes or so then turn on defrost, the smell will be stronger if its bad enough your window will fog over. Mine does not fog over if I have the heat on while the truck is warming up and the smell isnt bad either. When heat is turned on after truck has warmed up the anitfreeze smell is sickening. Either the core has a leak or your lines are leaking at the heater core connections and leaking down the inside of the firewall in which case you would smell all the time not just when the heat is on.

 

thanks alot fordnit. i guess i am just going to go ahead and replace it before i end up with antifreeze all over the floor boards and windows. when i first smelled the antifreeze i figured it was the heater core but was hoping someone else had the same problem and found out it was something a little more simple. wishful thinking on my part. the garage wanted almost 800.00 to replace the heater core, cant see paying someone that much just to pull a bunch of screws from the dash. if it was something more like digging into the engine i would not have a problem paying that much. anyway, thanks for your help and have a good new year.

 

I had that same 'smell' just last night while walking toward my Expedition with a pizza. I left it running and ran in for the carry-out.
I guess Monday I will borrow a radiator pressure tester from AutoZone and pump up about 12 lb on their tester and let it sit for a hour and come back and take a look~see. I hope I see 12 lb after an hour.

skip. I agree heater core.

" BTW, sorry about the spelling, not the best. lol "

Here, down load this. Goggle and then download this. --> ieSpell<--