Smell from 2001 Taurus....

I own a 2001 Ford Taurus. The mileage is currently 54,800.

Back in early December 2004 I noticed a burning smell coming from the front of the car, and could smell it when my vents were on inside.

At times it smelled like oil burning - but at times - it also smelled like radiator fluid. So I brought my car into the dealership right away - and they said that it was a leaking oil pan gasket.

So they 'fixed' the problem and gave me my car back. As soon as I got the car back - I could still smell the same smell (just not as strong.) I thought that maybe they had cleaned the engine (which is what it stated on my paperwork) and that the smell had to "burn off".

Well - it has been about 2 months since then - and the smell is still present, and much worse. Right now - it smells more like radiator fluid, though my car is not overheating, or anything, and I really smell it more when I turn on the vents in the car.

I called the dealership this morning - and I am scheduled to drop my car off tomorrow morning...I just wanted to post this here - and see if anyone else has had similar problem, or had any thoughts on what this could be?

Thanks so much in advance,
~ Kari ~

I'm thinking you might have had two problems and they only solved one the first time. If you smell coolant and it's worst when you have your heater on, I would suspect a bad heater core or a loose pipe/clamp. Usually, if you have a leaking heater core, you will get windows fogging/steaming up more.

Denis

Thanks so much for the reply.

You know - I have noticed that the window's have been getting pretty foggy lately. (But I just attributed that to the crappy weather that we have here in Michigan.) But of course that could very well be the heater core. I will have the dealership look into that.

Thanks again! :)

~ Kari ~

Just wanted to update real quick about my car. I brought it into the dealership first thing this morning. I got a call from them just a little bit ago stating that there is a transmission leak, and they needed my authorization to run a diagnostic test. Of course I said yes - as it is all still under my extended warranty. I hope that this is all that is wrong with my car right now.

*Keeps fingers crossed*
~ Kari ~