Hey all,

The last few times I've driven my FD, I've noticed a very slight smell of coolant coming from the AST. I can smell it occasionally while in the car driving, and then when I look under the hood, it's definately coming from the AST area. My levels have stayed fine, the engine is perfectly healthy, 18 inches of vacuum, no smoke, everything runs perfectly. The only thing I've noticed visually is just a tad of dried-up coolant seepage around the edge of the hose connected to the AST's neck.

I was just wondering if this could possibly be a sign of my stock plastic AST getting ready to burst on me? Maybe it's time to upgrade to the Aluminum AST? I'll be doing it this winter one way or another but I want to see what you guys thought about this faint smell.

It's so faint that my wife can't even pick up on it, but my trained nose can.

Thoughts?

Thanks guys!

 

hopefully that is all it is. if you plan on going with a large intercooler in the future, might was well remove the AST. the caps and hoses on the AST do get bad and could be leaking.

 

Thanks for the reply. One tidbit of info I forgot to add was that it's not a *burning* coolant smell, just coolant. There's no coolant smell coming from the exhaust either.

 

Don't wait for the stock AST to go on you. They are notorious for bursting. That's what happened to mine and by the time I pulled over it was to late.(ENGINE REBUILT TIME) Peace!

 

Get some new hoses & clamps while you're at it..... at most an extra ~$50. Well worth the peace of mind.