Hello , Question regarding burnt coolant inside cabin , new car

Hello,

I just picked up a 2001 Jimmy slt, brought it home.

before driving home ( an hour away ) I noticed it needed coolant, so filled the reservoir.

When driving back the cabin ( inside car ) would get filled with burnt coolant smell/smoke on passenger side.

Also the heater/blower would stop blowing hot air ( assuming it lost the coolant to the core ).

I was lucky enough it was -20 C / -25 outside so thermostat probably didnt really open so car didnt loose all coolant and didnt over heat. ( BUT F$%CK driving with that cold with windows down dure does suck ).

I did a quick search on this forum and noticed the heater core/fan is located on the passenger side.

Is this a common problem ? and what probably broke ? a hose, faulty heater fan ( it did blow VERY VERY WEAK at max cold or hot air either way ).

oh and it lost all the coolant in the coolant reservoir after 10-15 minutes .

Any help will be greatly apreciated.

Thanks Alot

Leaking heater core is common if the cooling system has not been maintained properly.

Leaking heater core is common if the cooling system has not been maintained properly.

Hmm okey, So it might be that. I brought it to the mechanics today, and he said its a tube under the dash that is leaking and that the book he has says its 8 hours plus 4 hours ( for auto shifter being in middle and not on stearing rack ) so total 12 hours of labour plus cost of the parts.

Looking on this great site, I saw the heater core and fan to be on he outside of the car. So i dont understand why he needs to take dash out , unless air distribuition systedm is damaged.

Coolant fumes were comming in through the passenger side of the car, and alot ( well the full reservoir of coolant ).

Any help will be great.

Thanks Alot

And the fan system was NOT really working, at max barely any air was comming out of the windshield openings .


Anay information or diagrams with the coolant/heater core system would be great to verify the problem before having to pay over $ 1200 in repairs.

Thanks

and its the automatic control system if that matters

The "tube" he is talking about is the heater core. Maybe he is referring to one of the tubes IN the heater core. The entire instrument panel needs to be removed to replace the heater core. There are threads in the Blazer "How To" section that walk you through the procedure. Not difficult, but extremely time consuming. The blower motor is accessed from under the hood.

Automatic climate control is far more complex than the manual HVAC system and will require some special test equipment to diagnose. Might want to have a GM dealer take a look at that.

Okey I guess that makes more sense now,

A little disguraged with the car, with all this work that the seller didnt talk about.

Ill search through the forum to see If I can tackle it ( no garage and - 20 sort of sucks for fixing cars ).

Any other information will be great.

Thanks