I have recently noticed a 'burning coolant' smell in my car through my heat vents and my coolant level slowly going down. Today, on my way in to work, the smell was particularly bad. I opened my hood when I got to work to see if there was coolant leaking from the expansion tank or temp sensor and hitting the side of the engine.

As soon as I opened the hood a bunch of white smoke came out on the passengar side of the engine bay, kind of under the air intake. Are there any coolant hoses/seals back there that I should check? It (obviously) smells like the coolant is leaking from somewhere such that it is coming into contact with the engine, or something hot, causing the coolant to burn off.

Can anybody help with this?

Thanks

 

Not sure what motor you have. On my 1.8t i had a leak on a little tank right behind the top of the motor, it would leak down and land on the exhaust right by cat. Can't think off the top of my head what the part was called but you should be able to look around up there and see if it's wet.

Edit: I believe it was the "Cylinder Head Cooling Flange" $2 from ecs.

 

I have the 2.8 engine and the car is a quattro.

I'm not sure if I have a cylinder head cooling flange in the same location or not.

 

Im not sure. Not even 100% sure it was that part the name just sounded right!

 

does it do it when you idle?

 

I will have to check. I usually only notice the faint burning coolant smell when I am stopped at a light, if that helps. When I am driving I can't smell it, which I assumed was because of the air flow dissipating the smoke. I'm not sure if it will happen if I just let the car idle. I can't really tell where it is coming from, either.

It sounds like it could be a coolant flange, which from what I understand is fairly easy to get to on a 1.8T but not on a 2.8 (which I have). I am going to try to look around the back passenger side of the engine bay to see if I can see some pink crusties.

Whatever it is, it is a pretty slow leak. I don't even think that I would know it was leaking if it wasn't hitting something hot and causing the smell.

 

It could be your cam seals. If the car isn't leaking when at idle and will then leak when you rev the engine up it is probably oil leaking on the exhaust manifold.

 

How do I tell if it is oil or Coolant? It is a white smoke that definitely seems to smell more like coolant than oil. Whatever it is it seems to be leaking slowly so it is hard to identify the source of the leak.

How bad is it if it is the cam seals and what is involved in replacing them? I would hate to spend the money replacing the Cam Seals right now if that isn't the problem. I have already put 2 CV axles, Windshield Washer pump, Serpentine belt, spark plugs, and a new transmission in in the last month...

 

dam how many miles does your car have?

 

ideally oil burns black, and typically, u smell it as u drive more then at idle(or stop light in ur case)