First post noob and first time Ram owner...

First week of March I bought a brand new 2012 Ram 1500 Crew Cab Big Horn Edition with the Hemi... so far it has been great but I have noticed something peculiar recently. Sometimes when I am driving home from work, smooth driving along paved roads, 50mph, no hard acceleration or stop and go driving, I suddenly get a blast of coolant smell through the vents... just a thick syrupy type smell that only lasts for a few seconds and then fades. Had it happen maybe a half dozen times so far and it is always when I am about half way home, maybe 20-25 minutes into my drive time. I've looked for any leaks and can't seem to find any under the vehicle or under the hood, coolant appears to be at the normal levels and the windshield does not fog up at all. I though it took a long time for the heat to start warming up the cab during the winter but I was used to driving a Tacoma and just chalked it up to the smaller cab warming up quicker. Any one hear about this before or have any suggestions? Should I be worried or just chalk it up to new vehicle smell? Thank you everyone.

 

There are lots of new car smells, but antifreeze isn't one of them. It sounds like there is some type of leak in your heater core or under the hood. It doesn't take much of a leak to cause that smell in the cab so you might not notice a drop in coolant level. And if it is in the heater core it wouldn't leave any puddles under the vehicle. I would take it in to be examined.

And welcome to DF, by the way, Mike.

Rob

 

Check for hose clamp leaks on radiator hoses.

 

2nd on the heater core