Coolant Smell, dealer recommendation - Philadelphia

[Ch356]

I've recently noticed a very minor coolant smell coming from my 2005 LGT LTD. It has 63K miles on it, no rebuilds or major service have occurred to the engine or related systems. I've had the 30k Service done, and I'm about to have the 60k service performed (as soon as I find a good subaru shop).

 

Symptoms include:

 

• I smell coolant after the cars been hot. It gets worse the longer you drive.
  
• I don't see any coolant leaking on the driveway
  
• There reservoir is not dropping significantly day-to-day
  
• The heater appears to be working fine (albeit with a light smell of coolant after a short period)
  
• It doesn't appear to be burning or smoking from the exhaust (no white puffs of antifreeze burning off to the eye)
  

I'm thinking it's probably related to the heating system, heater core et al. Any thoughts? I'm sure it could be a number of things, but I can't see it leaking anywhere so I'm at a loss right now.

 

Also, if anyone can give me a good recommendation for a subaru certified service center in the metro Philadelphia area, I'd really appreciate the tip.

 

I haven't had the best of luck with dealerships in the area, but always willing to try someone new.

 

Thanks!

 

http://home.chrishunters.com

[c-lo]

If you've not had luck with dealers then why look for one? find a good subie mechanic in your area and feel great leaving your car with someone you can trust.

[rnstein69]

I've had my car serviced at Fredbeans, and they were great.

[FerrariTech]

Find the drain for the heater box and look for coolant trails. Coolant leaks can also look more like corrosion than a leak.

[Ch356]

I have an extended warranty with Fidelity. Do you think a subaru mechanic will be able to work with this as payment? Anyone know of an online rating resource for auto mechanics? It seems difficult to pick one that you can actually trust. I personally do my own wear parts, brakes, shocks, tires, but when it comes to the motor I'd like to leave that to the pros. If its something like a heater core, that should be covered under my policy so I need someone who will be able to work with that policy.

[c-lo]

i prefer to go on personal recommendations.

[Ch356]

Unfortunately I dont know anyone who has a subaru who can recommend a specialist.

 

I'm thinking about just bringing it to John Kennedy again because they have a pretty clean shop and certified subaru mechanics. They were able to collect on my policy last time when a front shock went bad. Although I know a lot of people don't like them.

 

If Anyone on here has a recommendation for a local mechanic I'd really appreciate it. I'll probably put off doing this work until early next week to see if someone in the area see's this.

[Siper2]

I've had my car serviced at Fredbeans, and they were great.

 

Yeah plus they have a HUGE forum presence here... Jeremy's great.

[JoeFromPA]

Fred Beans in Doylestown. I also have had good interactions with Concordville Subaru; there's a tech there named Tom who is on here as screenname "warrantyengine".

[GTTuner]

I bet your getting seepage under the coolant hoses. When I took my engine out all hoses had the green "dung" coming out of the connection. The only remedy is to remove the hose, clean all the dung off, and use a new clamp.

 

My upper hose to engine connection was the worst culprit.

[Ch356]

If you read the reviews for Concordville Subaru here, it looks like the first review is a similar scenerio to my own. But it looks like they made some bold promises, and then "made it right" somehow. I'm willing to maybe give these guys a shot. I'll PM Tom and see what he thinks. It just seems like no matter what dealership you look at they have horrible reviews. I guess people need to go and review dealers when they have a good experience, not just when its bad.