I have an '04 Coupe six speed which is a great little devil of a car, but I am having a problem.
I bought the car in late November,'04, and when I put the heat on, the car steams up inside, and there is a definite smell of coolant in the car. It is nauseating. My wife won't even ride in the car any more. My son and his friend notice it, too, but I have had it into the dealer twice now, and they say there is nothing there. It is making my chest and head congested and I feel bad after driving the car any length of time. A few days ago I drove the car from Maryland to NY and back, and I felt terrible the next day. Has anyone else had this trouble? I am ready to say goodbye to this car if the dealer won't get it fixed. I think they just don't want to do it, because it would be a big deal.

 

Try bringing it to a different dealer. Does it smell like ENGINE coolant, or does it just have that air conditioning smell? If its an AC smell perhaps it will just go away with time.. but if you say its NAUSEATING.. I can't see a dealer saying theres nothing wrong straight to your face. Bring it to another dealer and explain the situation to them, that its actually making you PHYSICALLY ILL. That's a huge problem and should get the necessary time devoted to fixing it.

 

Just a couple of thoughts:

I have been referring to the Service Repair Manual (section on A/C & Heat systems);
both the A/C & Heat systems are intertwined and manual refers to using outside air through vents at base of your windshield. This will circulate through the vehicle when you have the selector switch on for circulation.

1. Check to ensure that there is no foreign matter near or in the vents where air comes in from outside car.
2. Try the normal heat process that you have done but make sure that the air circulating switch is in the off mode; in other words you will be circulating only air that is in the vehicle at the time. I would suggest before doing this, let your car ventilate with both windows down for awhile to ensure that when you do above suggestion that only clean air is in the vehicle at the time and not the contaminated air you were smelling before.
3. If above does not make any difference and you are still getting coolant smell (presumably you are quite familiar with that smell) my guess is that you have a small leak in the coolant line that is infiltrating the heater core where air passes through to give you the interior heat. The heater core and most of the heating controls are beneath or behind the dash according to the service manual.

If I come across any other info that might help, I will advise. I have only had time enough to have quick look at service manual at this time.

 

Hi

We had a similar problem for awhile, the car steams up around zero degrees, and no matter what you do it wont clear unless you open the window... the dealer was fabulous, turns out it was a defective compressor and drier.
All fixed now, no smell , no misting..

 

If you're smellimg coolant in your car and windows are steaming up its possible that theres a leak with the heater core in your heating system, I would think with a new car this would be very doubtful but you never know if the core could be faulty.

 

Jason:
There is a previous link on this forum for this issue except for the "fumes".
Bottom line is, my coupe used to to fog up quite a bit for the 1st few months and then it just went away. I heard this a few times from other owners too and they too had it stop on it's own. All I could think of is that there is some residual moisture somewhere in the system and it eventually goes away. Go Figure!
There wasn't any noticable smell however, so you might have a leak in the heater core other wise. Time will tell!

 

well i wish this gy had of let us know what the problem was in the end....becuase i have the exact same thing, including the coolant/chemical smell...

damn it all, and everything was going so well!

 

happened just after i lowered the car. coincidence...maybe.

 

Unless the car over flexed when you picked it up to change the springs I would think it is just a coincidance.
These cars are pretty stiff so I doubt it was this.I wonder if he ended up selling it?