2001 Saturn L300 Smoke smell through vents at idle

Tiny
BRIAN3188
  • MEMBER
  • 2001 SATURN L300
  • 6 CYL
  • FWD
  • AUTOMATIC
  • 155,000 MILES
I have a 2001 Saturn L300 (V6) with over 150k miles. Recently started getting a "smoke" smell through my vents. Only happens at idle, while brakes are applied, any suggestions?
Sunday, January 16th, 2011 AT 2:31 AM

7 Replies

Tiny
SATURNTECH9
  • MECHANIC
  • 30,869 POSTS
Your going to have to take a look under the hood and see if any fluid's are leaking onto the hot exhaust and burning off that.
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Sunday, January 16th, 2011 AT 2:47 AM
Tiny
BRIAN3188
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  • 4 POSTS
Just had my heater core replaced, it was leaking coolant. Any chance that could be it? I'll check tomorrow for any possible fluids leaking onto the hot exhaust. Thanks so much.
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Sunday, January 16th, 2011 AT 3:00 AM
Tiny
SATURNTECH9
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Usually when the coolant smell is coming off the heater core it's a sweet smell. Also see if you ran over a plastic bag and burning off the exhaust.
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Sunday, January 16th, 2011 AT 7:10 AM
Tiny
BRIAN3188
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  • 4 POSTS
Thanks for all your help thus far. After looking under the hood I can see that fluid is leaking from my heater hose connection straight down onto a pipe which is then steaming. I'm assuming that that might be the hot exhaust or if it isn't, then it's just a hot pipe that is still burning the fluid on contact and causing the smoke. GM says that my heater hose is good but the o-rings are bad. They're saying $300 to replace it, a local mechanic that I've gone to before says that he'll replace the hose for around $80. My question is, since I can see the heater hose connection, and I see that that is where the leak is, can I do it myself? Should I get the local shop to simply replace the hose? And what in the world is GM talking about?
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Wednesday, January 19th, 2011 AT 4:24 PM
Tiny
SATURNTECH9
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Are you talking about one of the hose's in the diagram I posted leaking On the plastic end that snap's onto the tube's coming from the firewall from the heater core?
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Wednesday, January 19th, 2011 AT 6:02 PM
Tiny
BRIAN3188
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Yes.
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Thursday, January 20th, 2011 AT 12:29 AM
Tiny
SATURNTECH9
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Gm must be talking about the seal in the end of the hose that seal's againist the heater core pipe. If you want to change the hose yourself then there is no reason why you can't. It's not that hard to replace the hose.
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Thursday, January 20th, 2011 AT 5:05 PM

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