I cant get rid of the coolant smell in my car! Only get this driving around town and after the car warms up.

I bypassed the heater core thinking that was it but the smell didnt go away so its not the heater core.

I rented a radiator pressure tester and found pumping in 17psi it would drop off to around 13psi in a couple of minutes so only reinforces there is a leak... as if i didnt know already. This test was done during the heater core bypass as well.

So then I went back to autozone and picked up some of htat Bars leak aluminum sealer since it looked like it MIGHT work the best. So far I cant say for sure if the leak has stopped since that was lastnight and I havent driven the car yet today.

But my questoin is.... how in the world do you find leaks!? I checked all hose connections at the rad., heater core, waterpump, heads and found nothing. The only thing I notice is a very strong coolant smell around the filler cap and nowhere else. The leak is coming from that area and filtering in thru the vents. I just dont know how to go about locating the leak w/o taking out the radiator and currently I dont have to time go ripping my car appart on a hunch. I know some of you guys have ingenious ways of fixing/finding leaks so lemme hear em!

 

I've seen a few of our radiators with cracks along the plastic sides of the radiator, pretty hard to spot. Check there. Also retighten all your clamps if you have adjustable clamps and look closely to any rigging of your coolant system, I'm guilty of ghetto riging some stuff.
I would also check your radiator cap for any seal cracks, if worn out replace. If you've done any coolant spills in your engine compartment, I'd wash it down with water so you don't get confused of any real coolant leaks.
When you have headers, I've seen the heater hose that closest to the core touching one of the header pipes and melting the surface of it giving off a funky smell, that got my attention with mine. I use heat shield cloth. Good luck.

 

He said he did a pressure test of the coolant system. That means he removed the cap and pressurized the the hole system. The cap was not on to do the test. I do think that 17PSI is bit too high though.

It's also not a good idea to wash an LT1.

As far as finding it, use die and a IR light. Shows up like a sweatshirt at a wedding. You can get the die anywhere, and Snap-on usually gives it to you.

 

Since the 4th gen uses an 18 psi cap, I don't think pressurizing it to 17 psi is too much. If the pressure is going down that fast it seems you would be able to spot a leak (unless it is an internal head gasket leak).

 

I checked again today and with about 17psi to start it dropped off 1.5 psi in maybe 10 minutes. This was with the motor COLD so wouldnt that mean the pressure is confined to only the radiator and not the entire system?... Id have to run the motor with the tester connected and then shut the motor off once the pressure rises and the thermostat opens to do that right?

I had a bad battery which was leaking acid all over and some spewed out on the radiator so I wonder if the acid ate a small hole in it... how plausible is that?