i have a 2000 suburban and i notice on start up the smell of antifreeze, does anyone know what that could possibly indicate?

KeepItSimpleStupid

A hole in the heater core. It's the heat exchanger inside the passenger compartment.
Not likely a cheap repair.

Fr_Chuck

moved post from introduction area to car and truck

CaptainRich

That does sound like a potential head gasket/coolant leak issue.
Have the system pressure tested and see where the leak is coming from.
It could be head gaskets leaking, or it could be leaking from the intake manifold. Some times that gasket, front or rear, will fail and when the engine is started, the coolant that has seeped out will slowly burn off.
AI hope this helps.

ddollinger

If the carpet is not damp in footwell of the passenger compartment it is probably a head gasket starting to go bad. The late model GM vehicles with the Red 100,000 mile Antifreeze seem to have this problem. I have been told that the antifreeze attacks the head gasket and deteriates it over time. It did it to my 98 Jimmy.

It took me a long time to find my leak which I was clued to because of the smell of antifreeze and the small losses of antifreeze. It was just barely starting to leak out of the back corner of the head on the passenger side when I caught it.

It is pretty much a weekend job because of all the %$#& you have to dissemble to get the heads off, not like your good old reliable old school GM small block where you can change the head gaskets in few hours.

If/when you change the head gaskets, flush the coolant system and replace it with the standard antifreeze (green) which is supposed to be better for your system.

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