hey,
short version: when my engine gets warm and i have heating turned on for high temp, it starts blowing engine coolant smell into my car and idk if i should be worried.

long version:
Around 6months ago i drove to visit my friend in a city. The drive was around 15min, but once i got to city it was a little bit of traffic and normal city stuff i guess. My engine got warm and once i arrived at my friends driveway the radiator blew or i mean it started to leak and hot air was coming out of it. I got it checked and they changed the radiator for me, but the issue was the radiator fan so they had to fix that too. They fixed it and all has been fine since then, but i noticed ever since whenever i get my engine warm or now that it's winter and cold i have to use the heating on full to not freeze so i get the engine coolant smell. I don't think it's leaking since it's been like that since around 6months ago, but i thought maybe it should be gone by now and im getting a bit worried hihi. might have typed this really bad, but just ask if you are confused or don't understand something :D

 

Get your cooling system pressure checked. If you smell coolant when you use your heater, then your heater core has probably begun to leak. It doen't take much coolant, when heated, to smell bad. Trouble is, replacing the heater core on a MINI is no fun. Keep a close look on your coolant level in the reservoir. Check it when cold and see if your losing coolant. If so, it's probably the heater core.

 

thanks i will check it out. it core heats really well tho it gets warm quick and sometimes to HOT like i have to open the window from the heat.

 

idk don't seem to be missing any coolant and it doesn't start smelling up until 45min+ of driving. I cleaned some spilled engine coolant from my heat shield I think that's where the smell comes from and it's most likely when they changed my radiator and radiator fan when they spilled some there. Guess they had really bad aim when filling the coolant yikes.