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Coolant Smell

scr141

scr141

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I have a 2020 Ram 2500 with the 6.7 l motor. Quite often my truck smells like burnt coolant on the outside at the right front corner. Not every trip, but almost. The dealer has pressure tested the system, but no external leaks found. Anybody had a similar issue? EGR Cooler? anything else that has coolant beside an exhaust source? I don't smell it at the tail pipe, just around the engine bay, and the primary area is the right front corner.
Thanks for any input,
Neil
 
Time to crawl under and look for some drips. Likely is a purple fluid if the Cummins has the same fill as the Hemi. Mopar 10 year coolant
 
mine, plus the few other 5th gens, all have a bit of a coolant smell at times. not a drop ever leaks.
 
The coolant bottle in the Hemi is on the passenger side and they do run fairly hot compared to other vehicles (220-225 is normal on the readout in the cluster). Maybe during shutoff there is a pressure spike from lack of circulation which manifests in the expansion bottle cap off gassing some coolant particulate. Might be smelling that? Dunno about the diesel typical temp though
 
Its really getting frustrating. Walked past it today and the stench coming out was very strong. Finally, even my wife could smell it!!!
Nothing found as far as drips go. No weeping visible anywhere. My mirror and flashlight, magnifier are getting tired.
 
Is the coolant level dropping?
 
In my case, same 'motor', same year, same burnt smell, same-same. So I have to ask, do you have this smell after running the heater or does it make any difference?
plus
Are you sure it's smells like antifreeze and not oil? In my case I noticed a smell after the stealership did an oil change, but never prior to the oil change.

I'm still going, "Hmmmm(?)" over this one as well!
 
Coolant pumps typically have a shaft seal which has 2 ceramic plates running against each other.
These ceramic plates can sometimes let a minimal amount of coolant through into a chamber outside the coolant circuit.
This outside chamber has a weep hole at the bottom. Some engines have a hose, guiding these drops of coolants to an unnoticeable location.
Might be worth looking at the water pump and searching for that weep hole or hose, it is not uncommon to have a small leak. We had a Mercedes sprinter and a BMW which had a small leak. It was small enough that minimal coolant needed to be refilled 1x per year.

A radiator leak is of course another possibility. A stone/ rock could hit that radiator and cause a small leak. Coolant has a self healing substance plugging small holes over time.
 
1FstGPa said:
In my case, same 'motor', same year, same burnt smell, same-same. So I have to ask, do you have this smell after running the heater or does it make any difference?
plus
Are you sure it's smells like antifreeze and not oil? In my case I noticed a smell after the stealership did an oil change, but never prior to the oil change.

I'm still going, "Hmmmm(?)" over this one as well!
Click to expand...
Makes no difference on the heater usage. just a really distinct odor out the grille and right front corner.
 
fuchsroehre said:
Coolant pumps typically have a shaft seal which has 2 ceramic plates running against each other.
These ceramic plates can sometimes let a minimal amount of coolant through into a chamber outside the coolant circuit.
This outside chamber has a weep hole at the bottom. Some engines have a hose, guiding these drops of coolants to an unnoticeable location.
Might be worth looking at the water pump and searching for that weep hole or hose, it is not uncommon to have a small leak. We had a Mercedes sprinter and a BMW which had a small leak. It was small enough that minimal coolant needed to be refilled 1x per year.

A radiator leak is of course another possibility. A stone/ rock could hit that radiator and cause a small leak. Coolant has a self healing substance plugging small holes over time.
Click to expand...
Absolutely bone dry. Nothing in this area. Smells like it is being burnt inside the engine.
 
Did anyone figured out were the coolant smell is coming from because I have the same problem with my 2021 Ram 1500...
 
Nope. Traded it in. I wasn't going to risk an out of warranty failure and try and get support when they wouldn't do anything during the warranty period. I now have a 22, same truck, no smell.
Not really a solution but I wasn't really interested in the risk of wait and see.
 
My 2016 hemi 1500 stunk on and off for probably 14 months then stopped. Had a similar smell coming home from Christmas party at the neighbours last night in the Liberty. -35*C and a cat had crawled in the motor. Remote started to warm up. Got in and played what’s that smell ( cousin Eddie style :eek: ) No power steering and ALT light to glide the slay last night. So far for Christmas I got a shredded drive belt and over heated engine:(. Plus have to de-fur the engine bay today:(.
 
Great White North Eh said:
My 2016 hemi 1500 stunk on and off for probably 14 months then stopped. Had a similar smell coming home from Christmas party at the neighbours last night in the Liberty. -35*C and a cat had crawled in the motor. Remote started to warm up. Got in and played what’s that smell ( cousin Eddie style :eek: ) No power steering and ALT light to glide the slay last night. So far for Christmas I got a shredded drive belt and over heated engine:(. Plus have to de-fur the engine bay today:(.
Click to expand...
Glad the Hemi Coolant smells went away. Very unfortunate about the Kitty...
Merry Christmas!
 
j
scr141 said:
Nope. Traded it in. I wasn't going to risk an out of warranty failure and try and get support when they wouldn't do anything during the warranty period. I now have a 22, same truck, no smell.
Not really a solution but I wasn't really interested in the risk of wait and see.
Click to expand...
just wait I have a 22 and have this smell on my 6.7. they had to fill degas bottle once for being low and it's been in twice for this 3rd time Monday. they have pressure tested system.and said no leaks found holds pressure but weird I'm stumped myself. thwy did tell me.several 22s have this 1500 and hd.
 
scr141 said:
I have a 2020 Ram 2500 with the 6.7 l motor. Quite often my truck smells like burnt coolant on the outside at the right front corner. Not every trip, but almost. The dealer has pressure tested the system, but no external leaks found. Anybody had a similar issue? EGR Cooler? anything else that has coolant beside an exhaust source? I don't smell it at the tail pipe, just around the engine bay, and the primary area is the right front corner.
Thanks for any input,
Neil
Click to expand...
I have a 2022 2500 6.7, found a red fluid leak on driveway, right side of motor and on chassis (with pics) with light smell of coolant near motor. Took back to dealer in OC California. Was told it was a oil leak??? Told rep that it was RED per pics!! Then a coolant clamp to turbo line. Still leaks, replaced turbo coolant line per dealership. Still leaks. Now they say a freeze plug leak. Will see. Only 20K miles on it!!!! Diesel mechanics at dealership just throwing darts at leak. Will pursue til no more leaks.
 
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