OK... my P5 has ~28k miles on it. As of recent when I push the car kind of hard (not very often) and tach it out I am noticing the sweet smell of anti-freeze from the engine compartment when I park the car (or stop at a light).

Possibilities:
a. smell comes from the overflow tank since I just got the motor nice and hot?
b. I have a small leak that is only spewing fluid under high RPM?

any one else with anything similar... if not it is off to the dealer for a look see, but since they do not have a courtesy shuttle it really is a pain in the *** to miss a good amount of work to sit waiting for the car...

 

it could be cause your breaking in your motor, but I could be wrong

 

He said his motor has about 28,000 miles. Breaking in his motor? WTF are you thinking?

 

I have experienced the same thing.

I believe that coolant already in the overflow tank has a tendency to drip out of the overflow tube when accelerating hard, and more so if you take some fast turns.

But the high revs also throws more into overflow, I think. When I was recently stuck in the snow during this lovely NY winter we're having, and I was rocking the car to get it out (auto trans, from D to R, over and over and over and.....), revving it high and spinning the wheels, I noticed a smell of coolant also.

So looks like a combination of things, but the revs definitely play a role. I wouldn't worry about it.

~HH

 

yeah its also because of the electric cooling fans on the car. The radiator gets to a certain temperature, then the fans kick on to cool it down. So you are basically smelling hot anti freeze. It's no big deal, its normal.

 

28K miles is still fairly new a good broke in engine is about 50K

 

Joe please do not try to explain on how to break in a new car. Usually break-in periods are around 1000 Miles. Also 28K is more then broken in...heck that is near the 30K tune up.

JJB...everyone is correct about the rev's. I had the same problem with my old car, I would make the engine work a little harder and the coolant would overflow, pushing out some of the coolant through the overflow tube, splashing a little bit into the hot engine, thus causing the smell.

 

I hit 40,000 miles today.

Wonder if I'm past the break-in period yet?

Seriously, Joe - where the are you getting your information?? Typical break-in period for ANY car is about 1000 miles, and that's it.

A "good broke-in engine" is about 50,000 miles?? Under that theory, the typical driver, at a generous 15,000 miles per year, would have to spend OVER FOUR YEARS "breaking in" the engine.

And this sounds correct to you?

~HH

 

I think I moved on to the breaking stage at around 10k.

 

ppl, no need to junp on joe (maybe he overlooked the 28k part?) he didn't state any mileage in his post so it was probably an oversight.

don't think i've experienced that coolant smell yet, altho that catalytic converter smell rivals that of a protein fart...

 

Did ya' miss this little gem, hawaiian?

Pretty specific, I think - and so wrong, it deserves to be jumped on.

~HH

 

Not to be mean to Joe...but I think that he needs to do a search on break in period through the forum before he tries to justify his view...

 

haha, i only read his first post... and just skimmed the rest. oh well, jump on me if ya want.

 

on a related note, i totally ignored the break in period, as most of u should already know when ppl test drive a "fun" car they automatically become race car drivers (all part of the sale). so i figured chances are my "new" p5 already seen some "damage" what's a little more from me?