Since day one of having my 2011 XB, I have noticed a strong coolant smell coming from the car after a 15 drive. Most of the time I smell it while stopped in a parking lot or in my driveway with ether the car running or shut off. I smell this coolant smell on the drivers side(around the drivers side front fender) but from time to time I can smell coolant while standing at the front of the car. Most of the time I don't smell the coolant smell while driving unless I am driving slow with the drivers window down or if I am at a stop and then start moving(i.e. drive thru or at a stop light or stop sign)

I never smell this coolant smell on the passenger side of the car at all.

Heres the kicker, I am not missing any coolant at all and the stealership says there is no leak. I have looked it over and there seems to be no leaks. The water pump looks good and no tell tale spray under the hood

Now I am very knowledgeable with cars and I know full well that a car with a closed cooling system should not have any coolant smells coming from it unless there is a leak. I have owned a lot of cars since I started driving and the only time any of them had this coolant smell was when there was a leak. The tech says it might be the coolant tank venting. I looked at the tank and it has a vent hole with a black nipple. No trace of coolant or coolant smell and there never has been. Why would there be no coolant smell near the coolant tank but the smell of coolant all the way on the other side of the car?

I have a Pontiac Vibe with the same 2.4l Engine and it does not have a coolant smell at all.

Anybody else getting this smell?

Coupled with the fact that there is no temp gauge and only a dummy light makes this whole thing frustrating. I like this car a lot but I have to say I am a bit disappointed with Toyota. They are trying to bring in new to the brand folks that would have never thought about owning a Toyota but they sabotage the effort by using a 4 spd auto trans that is older then this years high school graduating class(lets party like it is 1988 here) and couple it with an engine that gulps gas like it is a V8 and they remove the temp gauge for a clock i could see if it was a boost gauge for a turbo charger but a clock

 

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Might be a stupid response but have you checked the cabin filter? Maybe something somehow leaked in there at one point and that causes the smell? Although that wouldn't explain smelling it on the outside. Just a thought.

I've also been awake for nearly 24hourd do I might read this after getting some sleep and wondering wtf was I thinking lol

 

My 2008 doesn't even begin to approach a V8 in gasoline consumption (typical 27 mpg plus), but I've yet to identify any significant misbehavior (outside of a spark plug coil that replacement corrected). If there's a smell of evaporating coolant, then there's a reason and it needs to be investigated. My suggestion is to place the burden of investigation on yourself, not the dealer/mechanic. Those who are paid are far less likely to benefit your wallet than you yourself when you take the issue seriously!

 

I also smell collant on my 2011. I notice it happens when driving up inclined hills/roads for a long period of time. Driving on normal flat roads I dont smell anything.

 

You may be experiencing a leak, however the leak may be occurring over a hot engine component and the coolant is becoming vaporized so you never see any type of puddles or accumulation anywhere.

Check the obvious stuff first. Upper and lower radiator hoses. Check the thermostat housing as well as the gasket. Also check the heater hoses going to the heater core and back to the engine. Also check around where the head meets the block for any staining or signs of wetness.

The next suspect would be the heater core. You would need to do a pressure check to see if there any leaks before you go down the painful road of replacing it.

 

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well, I have a 2012 xb, since day 1 I got the car I feel that coolant smell, the first oil change I told the service guy at the dealer and he open the hood check and told me that is normal is a brand new car and that smell comes from the catalytic converter , whatever, now my car has 10000 miles and I still feel that smell, my only concern is that 2012 Xb's comes with no temperature gauge, just the stupid light.

 

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Thanks for all the good info. I am sorry I did not respond sooner but wanted to look into the issue better and report back.

I had a chance to borrow one of my brothers XB. This is a 2009 with the same engine and auto trans. I drove it all day and no coolant smell whatsoever was found. A talk with my bro satisfied me that this car never had a coolant smell. So if this is a "normal feature" of the 2008-2012 XB then it must be a 2011-2012 thing

The tech looked at me the last two times I took it to the dealership to address this issue as if I was saying something blasphemous about the great 2.4l engine. That this engine was epitome of perfection but this "great" engine is known for high oil consumption and loads of them had head bolts that stripped out and took the threads of the block with them.

I looked all around the car and did not see a thing. Can any of you folks(especially the ones that work repairing Toyotas for a living) tell me if putting leak dye into the cooling system will hurt the engine or void the warranty? That is a way i was able to find not so obvious leaks in GM vehicles. I just shine a black light in and pick up the trail.

I plan on connecting a rubber hose to the coolant overflow tank vent hole (the black rubber nipple is removable) and running the hose down to the bottom of the fire wall. If the smell is gone from the drivers side after doing this then the genesis point of the coolant smell is the overflow tank vent. If the smell remains on the drivers side then i can rule out the overflow tank vent totally.

I have complained to Toyota USA about the dealership and have made sure the issues were documented. I now have 13,300 miles on the car and have a basic warr. until 9/13 and a power train warr. until 9/15. I also plan on buying the extended warr from Troy in a month or so. I also am planning on getting all the services by miles(i.e. 10,000miles ,25,000 miles service etc) So if the engine overheats or blows up then toyota has to replace it on their dime. I like the idea of having the original engine in the car that it came with and tried to take preventive actions by having Toyota look at it but I can only do so much

Thanks again for your help and advice

 

Great thought about the vent tube. It may be venting in front of the intake for the HVAC system