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[tooleater]

Got the mv back on road again,thanks to james from Gloucester,great job .have to admit car gets little use,200 miles in 2 months.Ive noticed a bit of a whiff of anti freeze coming through air vents with heater on,but with door open cooling fans on the whiff is more distinct,cannot see any leaks,but do have to put a little and i mean a little bit of water in expansion tank to bring it to cold level. If ye olde matrix is on the way out,is there any thing to save it short of replacement,any info would be great guys          Cheers john

[PhilRich]

Are you sure it's antifreeze & not screenwash you can smell John? :-/

[Welung666]

Is the coolant level dropping at all?

[freecall666]

dead animal in engine bay can make a smell when its warming up.

[feeutfo]

dead animal in engine bay can make a smell when its warming up.

replies such as this really arent helpfull.

[feeutfo]

Got the mv back on road again,thanks to james from Gloucester,great job .have to admit car gets little use,200 miles in 2 months.Ive noticed a bit of a whiff of anti freeze coming through air vents with heater on,but with door open cooling fans on the whiff is more distinct,cannot see any leaks,but do have to put a little and i mean a little bit of water in expansion tank to bring it to cold level. If ye olde matrix is on the way out,is there any thing to save it short of replacement,any info would be great guys          Cheers john

Coolant leaks are common on the omega sadly.
HBV  is first culprit, but usually more dramatic than mentioned. More likely a re seal of the oil cooler cover plate is needed or stat housing or coolant bridge in the v of the engine.

Usually removing the plenum, inlet manifold and plastic bridge followed by slightly preasuring the coolant bottle will show the leak.

hth.

[freecall666]

dead animal in engine bay can make a smell when its warming up.

replies such as this really arent helpfull.

had a dead rat in engine last year the smell was just like antifreeze, it had eaten a hole in filter and was in the heater box, when fan came on must of kill'd it.

[amba]

Omegas do tend to have a habit of loosing a bit of coolant even if maintained to a high standard.

Lots of pipes etc at back of heads that can give issues with age...as Chris has said oil cooler plate and thermostat housing all culprits but need a bit of dismantling and a pressure testing to confirm.

Mine has had the same antifreeze smell for several years and over 100k miles.Sometimes coolant level is down by a very small amount and other times requires about abit more to bring it up to level.Smell does seem to be worse in winter months so assume it is heater or heater pipe related,but never been able to cure it. Normally smells worse when start up first thing in the morning after an over night stand.

You may end up chasing shadows so if it is only ever a small lose of coolant my advise would be just to check it every other day or so and correct level as required.Naturally if lose becomes considerable and temperature starts to be of concern then you must investigate the problem and cure as soon as possible.

Finally under no circumstances would I suggest adding any "leak treatment or snake oil potions" to the coolant system as they may cause blockages in small pipes which will have a much worse effect.

Best of luck with it.