I think the coolant smell inside the car is from the heater core, this is what I see mostly. But is it normal not to see any kind of coolant leak when this is happening?

 

It's possible the heater core and evaporator are sealed up in the hvac box behind the dash. It has a drain that leads out the firewall.

 

Feel the carpet on the passenger side. If it's damp, press a paper towel into it and if it's coolant, it will be green or whatever color your coolant is. If you're smelling it in the cabin, it's leaking. Vaporized coolant can harm the lungs and liver so take care of it ASAP.

 

You've got a pinhole leak in your heater core. Join the club, lol. Mine did this for years with no dripping or wet carpet, but it finally started visibly leaking, so I bypassed it temporarily.

 

I can't wait for the day mine goes bad and I start getting a wet floor board!!!!!

 

Mine never leaked on the floor, but fogged the windshield on defrost. Of course it waited until it was -20* outside!

 

Now -20° with no heat would give me the motivation I need to pull my dash, whereas not having an AC hasn't.

 

Yeah, well.....Being that I'm 75 and it was too cold to work outside anyway, I had my mechanic do it. Problem was it needed an evaporator also, but at the time I didn't have the money to put one in. When we put my new engine in, we took all the rest of the A/C out because everything was so old it needed to be replaced to work. Now I got nothing but an idler pulley.

 

Haha I don't blame you. Honestly I wouldn't be doing anything if it was that cold.

 

To think I thought I might get away without having to deal with the coolest most fun heater core design ever