2018 JL Sahara with coolant smell from front grill

[LCS]

Have a 2018 JL Sahara with a coolant smell from front grill. Seems like it’s coming from the radiator, but it’s not leaking coolant anywhere. Dealer had it 3 times. Last time they replaced some housing. No improvement(obviously they never ran to confirm the smell is gone). I do t have time to keep dropping it off.

anyone having this problem?

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[mwilk012]

Are you losing coolant or not?

 

[jludave]

anyone having this problem?

I actually had this with my 2015 JKU. After some drives, I’d get out and smell coolant. Never saw a drop of coolant/fluid anywhere around the radiator, hoses or on the ground. Coolant was never low in the radiator or overflow tank. As such, I never did anything about it and never worried about it.

 

[Down South]

If you aren't losing any noticeable coolant, I'd keep an eye on the coolant reservoir. Not to alarm you but I had the "I smell coolant" at startup. I had an internal leak in the engine. Head gasket was replaced and still had the same problem. The Jeep would often miss for several seconds when starting it cold.
Jeep said engine needs to be replaced under warranty. I traded out of if for another Jeep.

 

[Aloicious]

Have a 2018 JL Sahara with a coolant smell from front grill. Seems like it’s coming from the radiator, but it’s not leaking coolant anywhere. Dealer had it 3 times. Last time they replaced some housing. No improvement(obviously they never ran to confirm the smell is gone). I do t have time to keep dropping it off.

anyone having this problem?

I had this on my 14 jk, never leaked coolant, level was never noticably low. When I took the cooling fan shroud off though you could see staining on the radiator fins where the end tank connected, it was a very small leak between the plastic end tank and aluminum radiator. Only indication of the leak was the smell after driving (no smell on startup as down south indicated for his internal engine problem)

I hate plastic radiator end tanks, Ive had 3 actual radiator failures in the past 30 years on my vehicles, every single failure was due to the plastic end tanks.

 

[LCS]

If you aren't losing any noticeable coolant, I'd keep an eye on the coolant reservoir. Not to alarm you but I had the "I smell coolant" at startup. I had an internal leak in the engine. Head gasket was replaced and still had the same problem. The Jeep would often miss for several seconds too when starting it cold.
Jeep said engine needs to be replaced under warranty. I traded out of if for another Jeep.

That’s what I’m afraid of.

thanks for the input.

 

[LCS]

I had this on my 14 jk, never leaked coolant, level was never noticably low. When I took the cooling fan shroud off though you could see staining on the radiator fins where the end tank connected, it was a very small leak between the plastic end tank and aluminum radiator. Only indication of the leak was the smell.

I hate plastic radiator end tanks

Yeah, I think it’s the radiator because I smell it right in front of grill on right side.

I’ll take a closer look, and take it back to dealer.

thanks for the support

 

[Aloicious]

Yeah, I think it’s the radiator because I smell it right in front of grill on right side.

I’ll take a closer look, and take it back to dealer.

thanks for the support

I edited my post while you were replying, is the smell happening on startup, or is it after driving while the engine is hot? Cold start smell would be engine or something else, smell when hot after driving at the front grill would indicate radiator.

 

[Down South]

Another note, If it is an internal like mine was and getting coolant on top of a cylinder/s you should be getting some white smoke from the exhaust on cold start.

 

[Dryver]

Have a 2018 JL Sahara with a coolant smell from front grill. Seems like it’s coming from the radiator, but it’s not leaking coolant anywhere. Dealer had it 3 times. Last time they replaced some housing. No improvement(obviously they never ran to confirm the smell is gone). I do t have time to keep dropping it off.

anyone having this problem?

I had this problem on my 2017 JKURHR. Also in the shop three times and they never figured it out. It did lose coolant over time, but could never tell from where. Traded it in a Ram 1500 that I also ended up smelling coolant from (maybe I just have coolant in my nose). Just traded the Ram on a new 4xe. No coolant smell yet on this one.

 

[am1978]

Look underneath. I had a small pinhole leak about two months after I bought mine. Look for minimal fluid, nothing steady. Maybe a wet spot on the ground or only underneath on the bottom forward end of your engine.

 

[LCS]

Are you losing coolant or not?

Not that I have noticed. Never a drip in driveway, or had to add coolant.
I’m assuming the dealer topped off when the replaced some housing. I will mark it and keep an eye from now on.

 

[LCS]

I edited my post while you were replying, is the smell happening on startup, or is it after driving while the engine is hot? Cold start smell would be engine or something else, smell when hot after driving at the front grill would indicate radiator.

Yeah, have to warm up engine before you can smell it.

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