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Thread: Burning coolant smell

  1. #1
    boostaholic
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    Question Burning coolant smell

    Previous post from a few weeks back:

    Today turned into an eventful lunch break in the 92 Daytona

    I am sitting at a light and I hear a buzzer, look at the dash and see my coolant temps are really high, almost pegged the gauge. So I shut the car down, wait for the light, fire it up and get to Target which is a block away, by the time I get there its getting hotter. I roll to a stop and then I hear sizzling. I pop the hood and there is steam all over. The fan is not running, I check the fuse and relay, both are good, so I go jiggle some wires and check the plug on the fan itself. Then I drop the hood go into the store and get some distilled water. Come up, pop the cap for a nice gusher. Then add water, no leaks so I fire it up and start driving back to work. Blast the heat on high and vigilantly watch the water temp. It goes right back to normal. Drive to a gas station, pop the hood and the fan is ON. Back at work now and I hope this was just a fluke..

    Some lunch break...

    I keep watching the coolant every day, I have the level right in the radiator and the overflow tank is good. Now after driving the car and getting it up to temp I smell burning coolant. Using MPScan, coolant temps are running 190-205 with the A/C running in 85 degree weather. I get the car home each day and check for leaks, nothing appears to be leaking but that smell is prevalent. Ive checked the oil and coolant, neither is milky and the car is not eating coolant. I am not sure why I get this smell. I am not sure if when the coolant sprayed the front of the motor it is still there. I am going to replace the radiator cap today and see if that helps. I may also try washing the front of the motor.

  2. #2
    turbo addict
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    Re: Burning coolant smell

    when it first overheated can you remember if teh fan was running? might have a intermittent electrical problem or maybe a bunk relay, maybe replace it to be safe.
    1988 Lancer Shelby 2.2TII 1989 Shadow ES 2.5TI 1992 Lebaron Sedan 3.0Auto 1993 Acclaim 2.5TI-A520 Hoard parts now!

  3. #3
    boostaholic
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    Re: Burning coolant smell

    The fan was not running that is why it overheated I presume. The plug that retains it in the fan was broken and missing the small retainer clip on the connector. I have since safety wired the plug into the fan, no issues with the fan since and I am making sure I hear it power down every time I drive the car.

  4. #4
    turbo addict
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    Re: Burning coolant smell

    Ive overheated mine recently for the same reason, my relay harness was hung upside down and allowed for water to pool and rot out the connection, after refilling the coolant and fixing the relay its been good. what else can you do? preemptively rebuild it? spray the engine down its probably just burning off the hood and surroundings.

    - - - Updated - - -

    oh durp, you could pressure test the cooling system see if it can hold 15psi.
    1988 Lancer Shelby 2.2TII 1989 Shadow ES 2.5TI 1992 Lebaron Sedan 3.0Auto 1993 Acclaim 2.5TI-A520 Hoard parts now!

  5. #5
    boostaholic
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    Re: Burning coolant smell

    Pulled all the sheathing off my fan wiring back to where it enters the larger harness. Found a spot that was stripper bare, I think that was intermittently touching some metal. So I went through and cleaned up all the wire, then heat shrink-ed the split area and fixed any other issues, I then put on a new end plug with the retaining clip and everything seems to be working now. I also replaced the radiator cap. I hope it is fixed now! Drove the car to work today, so I will be testing thre system on the way home, its is supppose to be 85 here today. Going to want to use the A/C

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