2 things I noticed, Coolant smell after driving and power steering fluid

[BadKarma]

1st thing I have noticed recently, is the smell of coolant after driving. It’s not overwhelming, we have had a few Jeep JK’s and all 5 of them had the similar smell after driving. My ram 1500 never had the smell that I remember. Truck has just short of 30k on it.

2nd thing is the power steering fluid is about 2” above low. Obviously if it’s not at or below low. I’m not too concerned. But, with that said I don’t recall it being that low from the day I brought it home a year and 20 something thousand miles ago.

Any possible concerns?

 

[mbarber84]

Look it over very closely for external coolant leaks. I’ve been fighting those on my 2022 since new. The truck will be headed back to the dealer for the (7th ?) time for an external coolant leak, this time from the threaded port where the block heater sits.

 

[Rockcrawlindude]

Mine (Hemi) did the coolant smell thing for a while. I never found any leaks. Eventually it just quit doing it.

 

[BadKarma]

It’s hard to keep it clean however, recently when I removed the sway bar and about a month ago when I changed the oil I didn’t see any coolant leaks. I was pleasantly surprised with how muddy the exterior was but, how clean everything underneath was and more specifically where the coolant drain plug was at how clean around there it was, didn’t notice anything leaking and not low on any coolant.

 

[jetrinka]

I get a slight whiff every once in a blue moon but the level in the res never decreases. I stopped caring. Might just be other pieces of poo on the road.

 

[BadKarma]

Few months have passed. Smell still pretty persistent. Coolant level since new has always been just above minimum. Topped it off last week hasn’t changed much but the smell seems to be just as strong no visible signs of leak whatsoever and can still see the witness marks the factory left.

 

[mbarber84]

Five times I smelled coolant, and all five times it was a coolant leak. They’re just not easy to find. This style coolant doesn’t leave puddles like the old green stuff did. It dries out on the underside of the truck and can be sneaky. If you’re smelling coolant, and constantly having to top it off, you have a leak. No question. Just have to find it. If you scour the truck and can’t find it, it could be an internal leak.