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Hey brickboard,
Could use a little knowledgeable assistance on a diagnosis..
Our car is a 1981 244 DL, B21F and automatic trans.
The car runs great, idles fine and shifts with no issues. But, with that being said, I have recently noticed a pretty heavy smell of coolant while driving down the road. And can especially smell it when drive time is over and the car is parked as I walk into the house. There is also a oil smell present too.. but the coolant does not seem to leak terribly, as I keep an eye on the level frequently. Just finished a 1200 mile road trip in the car, and it delivered fantastically. Only issues were towards the end I noticed a slight hesitation when traveling up-hill. It would only happen intermittently, but wasn't anything that caused panic, but it is worth addressing.
I keep a plastic 5 gallon bucket lid under the car (while parked in the garage that is) to catch any leaking oil or coolant, so I can notice it. Only thing I've seen were tiny droplets of coolant and it was coming from the radiator, but the source was higher than lower I believe.. I've noticed also, very small coolant drips coming from the upper rad hose where it meets the housing, hoses seem intact and leak free after my brief inspection at a gas station 500 miles from home.
Could this be a precursor to a faulty radiator? Heater core issue? Plugs didn't foul any odd colors seemed normal, but could it be a failing headgasket? Have not noticed any oil in coolant, or vice versa..
I don't know where to start with attention and repairs, so I'm calling for help. Any at home tests I could do to pinpoint what's causing this?
sorry for length, just trying to provide as much detail as I can to help this along. Any comments would be appreciated and I look forward to fixing whatever is causing this smell..its becoming an annoyance to me because I know it necessarily shouldn't be like this.
-C
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