Hi Everyone!

I have a 2004 neon that went in for a complete tune up & oil change last week, since then I have been smelling antifreeze coming from the heating vents along with a film on the interior windows. Any ideas? Transmission was rebuilt last June along with a new radiator (line broke in the radiator). Not sure if it's worth it to fix as it has 164K miles on it

 

Heater core has gone out.

 

if my heater still works, what causes the antifreeze smell?

 

my reverse lights are out. all other lights work fine. checked the bulbs and they are fine. cant find a fuse for those lights. where could the problem lie? 2000 Dodge Neon

 

Electrolysis will cause pinholes in the heater core, causing it to leak antifreeze. It leaks enough to be caught into the HVAC system and be blown into the car. The alternative is that the one of the connectors busts and all the antifreeze dumps out onto the floorboard. Once enough antifreeze is gone, your heat won't work.

No reverse lights could be a bad neutral safety switch [which also gives power to the reverse lights].

 

Any ideas on the time & cost of getting this replaced?

 

The heater core itself seems to range from about $30-$60, depending where you get it from. Labor time says 6.2 hours to remove and replace it. So, 6.2 hours times whatever the shop labor rate is will be the cost of labor. Figure $70-$100 and hour, so roughly $434-$620 for labor plus the cost of the part, all with taxes still to be added in.

EDIT: I forgot you'll need to add in the cost of more antifreeze to fill the system back up because the cooling system will need to be drained before R&Ring the heater core. Two gallons at roughly $10/gallon plus tax.

 

I had the same problem in my '99 Dakota. Nasty smell coming out of nowhere, and eventually, smoke coming out of the vents. Definitely something you need to get fixed ASAP. Eventually, you won't be able to drive it down the block without it overheating and no amount of coolant will keep it from overheating.

 

Thanks for the info! Time to trade it in

 

lol trade it in since it has a bad/leaking heater core, just made me laugh sorry