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Pelican Parts

Coolant smell, white fog using AC

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2 captured repliesDiscussion pagination complete · Source accounts, not a confirmed diagnosis
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YOUR RESEARCHCoolant smell, white fog using AC

Leading reported evidence

Run on high

Suggestion or failed attempt

No successful repair reported for this finding.

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Suggestion

I would make sure the drain line (under the car) is clear and spray some mold and odor eliminator into the heater air inlet with the fan running on high.

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Coolant smell, white fog using AC
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Leading evidence: 'Run on high' (no explicit attributable resolution; this is a reported action or suggestion). Across 1 matching discussions, The most frequently discussed action is 'Run on high' (1 discussions). For that action, 0 discussions report a resolution and 0 report an unsuccessful attempt. No action has an explicit, attributable resolution report under the current rules. These are forum reports and suggestions, not a confirmed diagnosis.

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1 matching discussions · 2 captured posts examined · 0 partial discussions

Frequently discussed actions (1)

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Run on high

No successful repair reported for this finding.

0
Reported fixes
0
Unsuccessful attempts
1
Discussions
Read evidence and context
Discussions that contain suggestions
1

0 original-poster resolution reports. Counts can overlap; they are not unique people or a success rate.

0 discussions have direct query context; 0 report a fix in that context. Other evidence may inherit the discussion’s subject.

Suggestion

I would make sure the drain line (under the car) is clear and spray some mold and odor eliminator into the heater air inlet with the fan running on high.

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Coolant smell, white fog using AC
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Counts describe captured discussions, not unique people or a diagnosis. Author identities are not reliably stored. Exact duplicate evidence is counted once across matching discussions; one discussion counts at most once per action/state. Multiple repairs reported together remain a combination. Suggestions and failed attempts do not establish a fix. Matches cover whole discussions and can include related faults, model variants and incomplete threads.

2 eligible posts · 0 unverified posts · 1 discussions match the subject in their title or opening post.

  • Pelican Parts: 1 discussions

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Generation: 20261026T200546Z · outcome-qualification-6. Deterministic extraction; no AI model inference. How we use sources

POST 1 / ORIGINAL POSTEROriginal post

Howdy! First off, thanks for taking the time to read my question and hopefully provide some insight. I've got a 2004 996 Carrera coupe and sometimes the AC works like a champ, other times it still cools well but I'm noticing a smell like maple syrup (coolant?) in the cabin and sometimes I get a white fog (with increased smell of possibly coolant) in the cabin. Turning off the AC ends the fog and the smell. I've had the fog start both in traffic at at highway speeds. It was mentioned to me today that it could be a leaking heater core, and another mechanic said it could the AC evaporator. Anyone heard of this specific issue and have a clue on what the fix is?

POST 2Original post

More than likely, your AC evaporator tray in the heater box is not draining completely, resulting in mold growing (the smell) and the appearance of vapor. I would make sure the drain line (under the car) is clear and spray some mold and odor eliminator into the heater air inlet with the fan running on high.

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