antifreeze smell

I have a 99 cherokee sport 4.0...and I am getting this horrible antifreeze smell coming from the radiator area. when I turn on the ac or the heat the smell is sent into the car. because of the horrible design of making the radiator overflow look like a washer fluid reservoir and not having a "normal" washer fluid reservoir when I get the oil changed some idiot put washer fluid in the radiator overflow...no idea how long ago this happened or how often. but could this be the culprit of my smell?? no visiable leaks. would flushing the radiator of its fluid solve this problem? the smell started a couple of months ago after my wife filled up at a mom n' pop shop...please help. thanks.

The washerfluid wouldn't cause any smells. Washerfluid is alcahol (spelling) and water. It will evaporate. What is the collant level? Do you have any coolant on the pass. side carpet inside the vehicle?

You know it sounds alot a bad heater core. When you turn on deforst can you get a real good smell of antifreeze? If so it will be heater core leaking. If is was from under hood area and ac on normal air, which then is taking outside and bringing it in, you would have to have a pretty good leak there. In that case I would think you be able to see that.

myjeepsux420....nothing on the floor, thats kinda what I thought but because it has happened a couple times and the overflow is pretty full, I thought maybe

rksnc....you can smell it whether it is the defrost or the ac, both is just as bad. If nothing is on then you can't smell it, except when you get out of the car and walk to the front of the hood.

thanks to both of you...thinking about taking it in on sat.

I am new to jeeps but have 93 sport with similar problem. The radiator is difficult to view in mine secondary to AC etc. When I drive it there is a smell of antifreeze in the engine compartment and eventually I found a small leak. Is the radiator fluid level dropping? If so check for a small leak. Possibly a leak stopping agent (cheap) might fix the problem. A more serious problem would be a leaking head gasket but if this is the problem you would smell the antifreeze smell at the exhaust and may see white smoke (steam) at startup.
Goodluck
Bill

myjeepsux420....nothing on the floor, thats kinda what I thought but because it has happened a couple times and the overflow is pretty full, I thought maybe

rksnc....you can smell it whether it is the defrost or the ac, both is just as bad. If nothing is on then you can't smell it, except when you get out of the car and walk to the front of the hood.

thanks to both of you...thinking about taking it in on sat.


ok, you've got a antifreeze smell. run the car around for 10 -15 miles. come home, raise the hood. Move all hoses around! if standing at the front right wheel, you'll see the 1 " heater hoses coming together at a valve. move around again. i'll just let you know that i have seen three cherokees in 5 years bust small leaks in the hoses. Not enough to cause cooling issues, but enough to where you can smell it, or get antifreeze on the windshield. I'm kinda loaded right now, but i assure you, that you can fix this problem without "taking it in" . the cooling system on the jeeps is "junk" if left unmaintained. but i haven't had anyproblems with any of my cherokees, with them. Mopar builds a very good heater core also. i would only think its a heater core if there is fluid in dash/fiirewall/floorboard. Make sure you have checked ALL the hook up locations of ALL the heater/cooling hoses before you spend a "heep" load of cash............ oh and by the way, when the defrost is running on the cherokee's the A/C comp. is running also. " the drier in the ac system comes in real handy to dry the air............. holy shit this is long!!!!!

How does drier in Ac system dry the air? Now you have got me there. Yea I haven't seen that many heater core bad in Jeeps. But the best way to tell heater core bad is when you turn on deforst. If it is bad there will be a antifreeze smell, one of the best things to look for. There are cases when the windshield will fog up on the inside too. And the valve you are talking about is the heater control that I spoke of. The valve is made of plastic and can leak from valve itself or the hose fittings.

Yeah, check all the hoses and connections real good. But be aware that the heater control valve can only take so much pressure from tightening the hose clamp that connects the hose to it. Mine was leaking and when I started tightening it it cracked to pieces spraying AF all over.

I like to change all my hoses when doing a coolant flush. It seems better than waiting until a hose blows and then having to change it.

How does drier in Ac system dry the air? Now you have got me there. Yea I haven't seen that many heater core bad in Jeeps. But the best way to tell heater core bad is when you turn on deforst. If it is bad there will be a antifreeze smell, one of the best things to look for. There are cases when the windshield will fog up on the inside too. And the valve you are talking about is the heater control that I spoke of. The valve is made of plastic and can leak from valve itself or the hose fittings.


i believe its some type of a bag system in the drier"box". a desicant bag or cylinder. Kind of like the little silica gel packs in many foods, or medicine bottles..... The dryer also cleans the dirt deposits out of the refrigirant.

Well you are partly right. It traps moisture in the ac system. When a Ac system start out you have to pull a good vacuum. This removes air and moisture. Where there is air there is moisture. You pull this vacuum for at least 30 mins, during which time the moisture will boil and be removed. This will also help to stop acid build up in system. The other thing is that any moisture would freeze when it enters the evaperator and reduce heat transvere. Since that is what a ac system does. It is a heat exchange. Now this will have nothing to do with the air in the vehicle.

turns out that it was a small leak in the thermostat housing...thanks to all the info