The air coming out of my vents smells sweet like antifreeze...is this an indication of the heater core going bad? I don't see any fluid leaking out of it yet, just the smell in the air is pretty strong. How hard are these to replace?

 

the heater core was the first thing I replaced
it's simple and straight forward...
BUT A ROYAL PAIN IN THE

 

that sounds like a heater core. and it can be a PITA. If you are a patient person, they arent that bad.

 

Yeah, sounds like a heater core. I didn't notice any leaks at first when mine went bad, but then I picked up the passenger's side floor mat and found that it the coolant had been running down the firewall and under my carpet. It was the first time that I had taken my entire dashboard apart and I don't plan on doing it again if I can help it.

 

The box and duct where the heater core sits will hold quite a bit of coolant before it leaks onto the passenger floor. You should notice the smell (if using the hearer/defroster) and notice the windshield fogging up before you get a puddle on the floor.

 

My GTA has a faint coolant smell when I run the defroster too. I just bought my car with 114,000 miles and seems to be all original. I think there may have been a heat gasket issue with this car in its past since there is oil residu in the radiator overflow tank. The engine is very clean and the coolant looks great now. I have NO steam on the windshield so either there is some residu in the ducts from a past issue or the core is going bad with no leaks on the floor yet. Any way to know without tearing into the dash? It also seems the defrost to vent door has a delay in switching over. What should I look at when tackling this? I want to make sure when I hit "vent" it blows through the forward vents right away and not 5-8 minutes later

 

My GTA has a faint coolant smell when I run the defroster too. I just bought my car with 114,000 miles and seems to be all original. I think there may have been a heat gasket issue with this car in its past since there is oil residu in the radiator overflow tank. The engine is very clean and the coolant looks great now. I have NO steam on the windshield so either there is some residu in the ducts from a past issue or the core is going bad with no leaks on the floor yet. Any way to know without tearing into the dash? It also seems the defrost to vent door has a delay in switching over. What should I look at when tackling this? I want to make sure when I hit "vent" it blows through the forward vents right away and not 5-8 minutes later