coolant smell

[digimanoc]

I'm thinking about buying my friends '91 and notice a coolant smell coming from it when I drove it. There is a daily driver ('91-95?) that I walk past every day @ my work that has the exact same smell coming from it. My friend says he's never had coolant problems or leaks(65,000 very well maintained car)......

My question is..... Is somewhat normal to smell that? This might seem like a dumb question.....but the only two NSX's I've ever been near BOTH have the same smell.

 

[Briank]

There is a common problem with NSX that the plastic coolant tank leaks at the seam. This may be what is causing the smell. I have noticed that after I spill any coolant while working on my NSX it can take a couple weeks for the smell to go away.

 

[hlweyl]

Definitely NOT normal to smell coolant. As Brian points out the coolant tank leak is common and an easy fix. Also, if there has been any work done that caused coolant to spill it does take long to burn off.

Definitely have a PPI done and make sure the car is not blowing any smoke when running. In this case I would also pay for a leak down test.

 

[digimanoc]

being that it's a '91 and the tanks are prone to cracking...I'm going to check that out.

Thanks guys.

 

[SCS2k]

A similar problem happened to a friend of mine with a 91. After searching and searching it turned out to be a bad head gasket. Not a cheap fix. There was no coolant in the oil either.

 

[DutchBlackNsx]

Same here, coolant tank gave up, had a severe overheat, had to replace headgaskets.

So, get the coolant 'sniffed' for exhaust gasses, check the coolanttank. Also check for air in the system.

The few people i spoke to who had their coolant tank go, all had them go at the place where the two halves are glued together, near the mountingholes.

 

[digimanoc]

update

I took it in and had it checked out, turns out the tank was slightly overfilled and it was puking out.....must have happened when they did the water pump only a few thousand miles prior.

It checked out good with the exception of a bad O2 sensor, valve cover leak, cam plugs weaping, vtec spools leaking, oil pan leaking, and the oil pressure sending unit leaking.

so, I'm going to buy it.