Coolant loss!
 

Hi guys, back again having got the Forrester Turbo all sorted and running fine thanks to a new MAF meter. One thing is niggling me a little though in that after I have driven the car I have noticed that the engine smells like an overheating engine! ... That hot radiator type of smell! My temperature gauge is fine, even when sat on the M25 but I have had to top up the reserve resevoir three times and can hear water boiling around the top up tank. Has anybody come across anything similar?

Mine does the same, my engine reachs temperature in a very short time, like 5 mins or 3 miles, i can smell a hot engine, the gauge is also fine, never boils over but makes some odd noises ! i top up every couple of weeks, did consider using radweld to see if it wil stop the small leak?

Hi Mossi, yes mine does just that, warms up in no time. It's the first car I've had with an intercooler on top so I just thought that the smell was coming from there and it was one of those things! But, due to having to top up the coolant regularly I am thinking it may be an air lock in the cooling system or a small leak which I can't see. Let me know how you get on with the Radweld. Anyone know how to bleed the cooling system? Cheers.

Do they have a cabin/pollen filter fitted? It could be a smell from that maybe.

Hi Stig, the smell from the engine is only noticeable when you're outside the car! It's that nasty steaming coolant smell but without the steam or the sky high reading on the gauge.

If your constantly having to top up the water then it could easily be an airlock, either that have a look around and see if you can see the leak, you should be able to see some sort of water marks if it's leaking from somewhere.