I have a 1996 Dodge Ram 2500 series 4X4 w/a 360 engine. It's got about 120k miles and its been a pretty good plow truck. However when it's warm, I can smell a suddle antifreeze smell inside the truck. When I go outside to smell it, there is no smell in the hood or outside. There is also no leaks on the ground. The smell is suddle and comes & goes. It seems to go away when I put the heater on. My thought was beginning stages of a bad heater core?!?!? No wetness or leaks inside the truck our outside. Am I missing something?

 

sounds to me like a leaky hearer core. Not a good thing since in Dodge's infinite wisdom they made it exremely hard to get at(about 8 hours to R & R). You may want to sniff your exhaust to see if it smell like burning antifreeze if it is that it'll be a head gasket.

 

It does make a gurgling sound at start up behind the glove box. This makes me think there is an air bubble. But would that cause the coolant smell? Especially when the temp guage is always at a low and steady temp???

 

An air-lock is characterized by a sudden jump of your temp needle and no heat coming with your vents set to hot. This would not cause an antifreeze smell.

 

Heat is real hot, and temp guage is normal. I bet its in the beginning stages of a bad heater core.

 

i have a 99 ram 2500 w/360 my heat is never hot replaced water pump ,raidator & thermastat raidator cap cold &bottom hoes cold. what could be the problem? need help very cold out

 

check your switches... ya know the hvac controls on the dash... thers little vacum lines hooked up to the back of the switches... check to see and maek sure they didnt come loose or off

 

Mine does that too, and is burning alot of coolant, especially under throttle, but its not leaking on the ground. Whats the problem, head gasket?

 

I hate it when my bottom hoes are cold.

I think heater core too. I've got the same thing going on. Only started after my radiator exploded last winter. I haven't gotten around to feeling for wetness on the passenger side but I'm not going thru hardly any coolant. Should probably do all that before the cold hits though.

 

I am with the guys saying heater core, When mine was first going i could smell the coolant too. Then it began to leak on the passanger side of the cab. It's quite the job to do it, but it can be done. You have to take a bunch of stuff out, but once you get down to the main bolts the whole dash pretty much hinges off. You need to get right down to the firewall. If you are getting smoke from the vents, maybe do a quick bypass under the hood until you get it done. No need to be breathing cancerous gasses.

This is a shot of how far back i had to go.

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