Lotta water
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Cargo Master
Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 2,243
Likes: 79
From: Roman Forest, TX
Lotta water
Hullo folks. Earlier today I thought I smelled radiator smell in my truck, and when I looked up front, there sure seemed to be a lot of "liquid" dripping down from where the condensation normally drips from the AC. I thought I'd just monitor it a bit first since the radiator seemed to be full and nothing inside the truck (thinking it might be the heater core). Well, I still can't seem to identify this. It does not smell like radiator fluid, and I completely turned off the AC and anything that might use the AC condensor. And I can see this "liquid" doing a little more than dripping. It still drips down from where it looks like it should be the heater core, but it doesn't appear to be. And it's way more "liquid" than the AC condensor puts out. I'm still monitoring it, but right now I'm a bit perplexed. Any ideas??
Hotshot
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 14,069
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From: Melbourne, Ky
It should be easy enough to tell if it's anti-freeze dripping, just by the look and smell. If it's water, that should be easy to tell too. If you've been using the A/C and it's a little low on freon it could be freezing up on you. Also, if you've got a cabin air filter, and it's dirty, it may not be letting enough air flow through the coils and cause it to freeze up too when running A/C.
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Cargo Master
Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 2,243
Likes: 79
From: Roman Forest, TX
Carpet is dry (so far) and nothing I can find inside (so far). The smell I initially smelled could have been from an older truck next to me when I first noticed it. I'm inclined to think it may be what John said with the freezing up. But I've just never seen that much water before. It can pool up in a hurry. The AC got a bit low on freon a couple of years ago, and I was able to shoot it up with a half a can and has been fine since. I haven't been using the AC a lot, but the defrost yes, which still uses the condenser (or dryer or whatever). I will monitor all this more and see what keeps popping up. Thanks for the stuff so far.
Senior User
Joined: Nov 2008
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If the heater core has a small leak you can smell it inside with no signs of water in the cab. <------- which would = the radiator / bottle to be low in most cases. Bit have seen very small leaks that take a good amount of time to show. And sometimes you will get a fog when you use the defrost.
If you have a low A/C charge you'll tend to hear the compressor cycling on and off many times in a very short period of time. Best thing to do is to run the rig and see if its coming out of the A/C vent tube or not. If you have an overcharge condition it can cause issues also. You could also have an issue with a restriction in the system causing a freezing up / over condensation problem. When using the defroster the A/C system is still being used as it dries the air to defrost faster.
If you have a low A/C charge you'll tend to hear the compressor cycling on and off many times in a very short period of time. Best thing to do is to run the rig and see if its coming out of the A/C vent tube or not. If you have an overcharge condition it can cause issues also. You could also have an issue with a restriction in the system causing a freezing up / over condensation problem. When using the defroster the A/C system is still being used as it dries the air to defrost faster.
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Cargo Master
Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 2,243
Likes: 79
From: Roman Forest, TX
Okay, well I think I may have a lead on this. It may have a small leak in the AC, meaning it may be low on R-134 again. I still have to verify this though...haven't had time to look into it thoroughly. But it does not appear to be heater core related. No overheating, no low coolant, no smell or inside leaky or defrost problems. Musta been a fluke (or the old beater Chevy sitting beside me at the IHOP) when I thought I smelled coolant. Anyway, I'll try and verify this leak and let y'all know.
