car smells bad when running

[Huw Powell]

Yes, but a drop of coolant on one's finger, to be washed off, can't hurt 
anyone, and it will give her a baseline for that possible source of the 
odor.

That said, most technicians are pretty adept at identifying strange 
odors in cars.

One thing to try if animal sources are suspected is to spray some of the 
modern "odor eating" air fresheners (like Febreeze, in the pump bottle) 
into the inlet of the cabin fresh air system.

This will be ahead of the windshield and behind the firewall/hood seal.

I eliminated a pretty strong mouse urine problem in my truck completely 
with about a 1/4 bottle or so.

- Huw

On 1/22/2013 8:22 AM, Lee Levitt wrote:
>
>
> Kent writes:
>
>> Stick you finger
>>     in the coolant overflow tank and smell it.
>
> Um, that is not a great idea. Coolant can be toxic to domestic animals and it probably ain't great for humans either.
>
> The OP may not be able to distinguish between good and bad coolant based on the smell, so conducting this particular diagnostic may not be helpful.
>
> She should conduct the visual inspection as described and hand off the car to her trusted indie mechanic.
>
> I'm betting on a head gasket leak.
>
> Best,
>
> Lee
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