3-Day old MS6 & very strong radiator smell

seanw

Member
:
2006 Titanium Gray MS6
Can anybody tell me if I need to worry about the very strong smell of radiator fluid on my 3-day old MS6? The smell is strong enough that I can't use the fresh air switch on the climate control and my whole garage smells like a radiator pretty much all the time. I have two other new cars and neither one had this smell. Maybe it's something to do with the intercooler?
 
I can't comment about the smell on the MS6 but on my MSP I had the same thing when it was new. The smell was very strong but eventually went away. I never found or had any leaks with my cooling system.
 
jrodhotrod said:
I can't comment about the smell on the MS6 but on my MSP I had the same thing when it was new. The smell was very strong but eventually went away. I never found or had any leaks with my cooling system.

Thanks, very good to hear. Pretty soon I'll be able to stop worrying about this car and just enjoy it! Nice looking MSP, very sharp.
 
a radiator smell Like coolant ? It was common on the MSP's with and without the pesky leak at the Turbo inlet.

best thing to do, if you have a dry spot to park over or garage put a big piece of cardboard under the car over nite. you will see if any leaks are present in the morning.
 
seanw said:
Thanks, very good to hear. Pretty soon I'll be able to stop worrying about this car and just enjoy it! Nice looking MSP, very sharp.
Thanks! Do what Boostisgood has suggested and you should be worry free. Enjoy your MS6.
 
jrodhotrod said:
Thanks! Do what Boostisgood has suggested and you should be worry free. Enjoy your MS6.

Yeah, I will do that just for the peace of mind.
 
Don't worry. Perfectly normal. Simply the coating on the engine components burning off. I asked about it at the shop as I noticed this with my MSP and again with the MS6. Its even worse if you have rust-proofing on your car. It disappears after about 2 weeks.

R
 
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Rainman said:
Don't worry. Perfectly normal. Simply the coating on the engine components burning off. I asked about it at the shop as I noticed this with my MSP and again with the MS6. Its even worse if you have rust-proofing on your car. It disappears after about 2 weeks.

R

Cool, thanks!
 
Wait does the speed 6 have the 6i splash guard/skid plate? 6i has the cartridge filter in a bad spot for rocks and other misc debree to crack it open so a splash guard/skid plate was installed. If the splash guard/skid plate is presesnt cardboard trick is obsolete with the exception the leak will be on the splash guard/skid plate.
 
FX-MAN said:
Every new car has engine smells for the first few days/weeks

I previously owned a new Saturn and a new Altima, and I don't recall anything like this strong coolant smell. It is starting to fade away though . . . .
 
seanw said:
I previously owned a new Saturn and a new Altima, and I don't recall anything like this strong coolant smell. It is starting to fade away though . . . .

It isn't even a Mazda thing because I had a 2000 Protege LX new before the MSP and it didn't have any smell. I think that it is more related to the coatings on the turbo itself. When it heats up for first few times the smell is qute strong. After the coating is consumed/burnt off, no more smell.

It might be more productive to poll turbo owners and see whether they experience similar smells.

R
 
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I have had a new 2000 eclipse GT, a 2003 Celica GT, a 2004 RX-8 GT, and an '06 MS6. ALL of these cars had strong smells for the first couple weeks. My wife remembers all her new cars smelling also (X-terra, then her Odysee, then her Dodge Caravan. These were all Autos...)

ALL of my cars were manual tranmission sports coupes, but the ms6 is the only turbo of the bunch. All new clutches smell when you break them in, seals on the engine smell when excess adhesive burns off, or adhesive used on the nuts to keep them in place. When these parts really heat up for the first time, they burn off excess adhesives and it results in that burn smell.

"new car smell" on the interior is due to adhesives and moulding compounds venting off of the dash and interrior parts.

All these smells are normal, and nothing to worry about. If you STILL have this smell in 2-3 weeks (OR you see smoke), then talk to someone about it. Seriously though, a new car will throw some smells while things are getting broken in and excess adhesives are burned off.
 
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FX-MAN said:
I have had a new 2000 eclipse GT, a 2003 Celica GT, a 2004 RX-8 GT, and an '06 MS6. ALL of these cars had strong smells for the first couple weeks. My wife remembers all her new cars smelling also (X-terra, then her Odysee, then her Dodge Caravan. These were all Autos...)

I'm thinking it has something to do with having the intercooler up on top of the engine. As long as it isn't leaking coolant, I don't have any problem. And it doesn't appear to be doing that. Be nice when I can leave the recirc switch off and get fresh air in the car, though.
 
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If it's still very strong, you may want to talk to your dealer, this might be more than new car smells if it's still going on and you can't use the recirc switch without smelling it badly (I have an MS6 also, and I could smell it, but I don't remember smelling it from inside the car while I was driving).
 
Take it back to the dealer to have the system pressure tested. The smell shouldn't be strong enough to come through the vent, unless there is a problem. The stock clamps are not the best to begin with.

I had a similar problem with my MSP and the dealer tested it and flushed the a/c system? The problem was still there. I replaced all water hose clamps with the worm types and even put one on the overflow line. I noticed some leakage from there.

Still get a smell from outside of the car, but its no where like it was when it was new and had the oem clamps on it.
 
seanw said:
I'm thinking it has something to do with having the intercooler up on top of the engine. As long as it isn't leaking coolant, I don't have any problem. And it doesn't appear to be doing that. Be nice when I can leave the recirc switch off and get fresh air in the car, though.


umm. The intercooler doesn't have coolant going through it. You also have to remember the turbo is coolant cooled, so it will smell some what.
 
ya, if it's a watercooled turbo then that may be the source of the smell...if it continues i'd take it back to the dealer, small leak somewhere??
 
BlkZoomZoom said:
umm. The intercooler doesn't have coolant going through it. You also have to remember the turbo is coolant cooled, so it will smell some what.

Alright, since it is clear that I know jack about turbos, from now on I will end any future suppositions with a question mark. As in "I'm thinking it has something to do with the intercooler being on top of the engine?" I googled intercoolers and found that some (most?) intercoolers use air as a coolant and some use coolant.

Anyway, maybe the smell is coming from the turbo since it appears to be located at the back just under the intercooler?
 
Air to Liquid intercooler, yes, but no intercoolers have engine coolant running through them. The intercooler is there to cool the air, not cool down coolant. the radiator does that job.
 
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