Slight coolant smell in vents (not with air con on)

[Young Angus]

Driving along highway at speed, just the fan on no air con, no issues or anything but as I brake and slow down I get a faint coolant smell in the cabin.

Any ideas? Can’t see any obvious leaks under the bonnet it’s all pretty clean under there.

Tdi300 manual...pretty nice one too hehe

[Tins]

Driving along highway at speed, just the fan on no air con, no issues or anything but as I brake and slow down I get a faint coolant smell in the cabin.

Any ideas? Can’t see any obvious leaks under the bonnet it’s all pretty clean under there.

Tdi300 manual...pretty nice one too hehe

Leaking heater matrix probably.

[DieselLSE]

Leaking heater matrix probably.
Yep. First place I'd look.

[Young Angus]

Hmm okay thanks...I've never looked at one of these, are they easy to get to and check out / replace?

[oka374]

No idea how hard to access in a Disco but not usually easy to get to in most vehicles, it's quite often the first bit down the production line hanging on a bit of wire and they build the vehicle around it ;-))

[Young Angus]

Haha I did read that and got worried, then I found this lovely link on this forum (seriously this forum is fantastic!)

Heater core 1997 Disco.. DIY or Workshop ? - Page 5 (aulro.com) (https://www.aulro.com/afvb/technical-chatter/40034-heater-core-1997-disco-diy-workshop-5.html)

Apparently later model Disco 1 is much easier to remove heater core than earlier (pre 95) ones and this is a great thread about it.

Cheers AULRO, gosh this forum is good!

[BathurstTom]

Haha I did read that and got worried, then I found this lovely link on this forum (seriously this forum is fantastic!)

Heater core 1997 Disco.. DIY or Workshop ? - Page 5 (aulro.com) (https://www.aulro.com/afvb/technical-chatter/40034-heater-core-1997-disco-diy-workshop-5.html)

Apparently later model Disco 1 is much easier to remove heater core than earlier (pre 95) ones and this is a great thread about it.

Cheers AULRO, gosh this forum is good!
Worth looking at the heater pipe o'rings before you go ripping things out.

[Young Angus]

Good point, the heater still works like a champ it’s just this faint smell every now and then so that’s be handy if it was just an o ring. Guess I should check under the carpets too to see if there’s any coolant under there that’s leaked too.