Chrysler Repair: SMELLING ANTI-FREEZE THRU VENTS, mercury villager, radiator core

Question
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Followup To
Question - AS TO MY SURPRISE, THERE IS WATER UNDER THE HEATER COMPARTMENT NOT VERY MUCH , BUT ITS THERE.  IS THIS SURE SIGN OF THE HEATER CORD?  IS IT SAFE TO DRIVE JUST A LITTLE WAYS BEFORE I CAN GET IT FIXED?DO I NEED TO CONTINUE TO CHECK THE WATER LEVEL IN THE RADIATOR, AND MONITOR IT CLOSE? AGAIN I WANT TO THAK YOU SO MUCH.  GOD BLESS
WHY AM I SMELLING ANTI-FREEZE TRU THE AIR DUCTS
IN THE VEHICLE. IS IT THE HEATER CORD?  HOW MUCH WILL IT COST TO REPAIR?   THE MAKE IS 1996 MERCURY VILLAGER.
Answer -
Hi T-bone,
Unless you have a pretty large leak in the engine compartment whose fumes are coming out and reentering the vents it usually is the case that there is a leak on the cabin side of the fire wall. I suppose it could be where the hoses clamp on the heater core nipples (engine side) so verify that is not the case, but then I would check to see if the carpet under the heater area is also wet which strengthens the core as the suspect component. Usually there are no valves so it is sort of a closed loop thru thru the core on the cabin side and thus such fumes are diagnostic of a core leak.
The core itself is probably around $100 but how much labor is involved depends on how the Ford engineers designed the system. It could take many hours of shop time, so you might want to consider getting a manual that describes all the steps and doing it yourself.
Roland

Answer
Hi T-Bone,
Thanks for the nice feedback. Yes it is a pretty clear indication that you have a radiator core leak. It doesn't sound like too big a leak, so probably just check the level in the overflow bottle every few days and watching the temp gauge will keep you out of trouble. There is one possible patch you could try, though there are differences of opinion on this. There are componds that you can add to the radiator that when pumped around the system will seal small leaks for quite a while. One such is called "Bar's Leak". I have used it in the past when I had a small radiator leak and it works. The only down side is that it does put a very thin coating of the compound all through the system that then ultimately needs to be flushed away when you get around to replacing the core, and there is a chance that if either the radiator core or the heater core has been partially clogged do to build up of crud that the sealer may close down a narrow channel in the system and thus compromise the heat transfer. But if you find that this is not the time or the budget is tight you could very well give this compound a try. It costs about $4 at autoparts stores. Follow the directions and use it when you intend to drive the car for at least half an hour to give it a chance to work, and of course you have to have the heater on to make sure the coolant is flowing thru the core so it brings the compound to the location of the leak where it will fill in the hole.