Ok, so I looked around and can't find an answer and even asked around and nobody can tell me anything so I'm coming to you guys for help...here's the story...

Was coming home from work one night and it was snowy as all hell and I just so happen to live at the top of a freaking hill. Couldn't catch traction to save my life on the way home so I tried to hit the hill as quick as possible hoping I wouldn't get stuck...guess what? Yep, sure did come to a stop in the middle of the hill with the tires still spinning forward. And we're not talkin a measly little "I gotta get in my driveway" hill, this was on the road and it's about 1/4 just to get to where my driveway is and I'm stuck half way up. So since turning around and rolling back down the hill wasn't an option, I opted for just trying to muscle it up. 2nd gear, about 3k rpms just spinnin the tires off and I finally made it about 5 mins later. Come to a stop and my ABS light and my brake light come on and all kinds of smoke(could have been steam, it was 15 degrees out) come pourin out from under the hood. I pop the hood, don't see any oil or brake fluid on the engine so I thought all was ok. Started the car back up and the lights were off and it ran just fine, no stumbles or anything. Clutch doesn't slip at all and it still works normally.

Now for the interesting/confusing part...Seeing as how it's not healthy for your car to just jump in and take off when the temps are low, and cuz I don't like to be cold lol, I warm my car up when it's below like 30 degrees. It seems every time I leave the car running for about 10 mins to warm up and I come outside to leave, I can smell antifreeze when I walk behind the car. Popped the hood, can't smell it in the engine bay, and even cupped my and in the exhaust and gave a wiff and can't smell it directly there either. But even a few of my friends have noticed it because I asked them to check to make sure I'm not losing my mind. Anyone have any idea's what this is? I'm at a total loss...

 

Time for a compression test my friend.

 

Eh? Who/where does those? And if I were having compression issues, wouldn't the car not run as well? Cuz the power still seems to be there and it doesn't run funky

 

you could have popped a gasket....................check your oil is it milky?

 

If antifreeze ever leaked into your engine bay on undercarriage you will smell it until you wash it off.. it's the most lingering smell in the world!..lol.. the question is.. how did it get there?

 

Just did an oil change day before yesterday and it was just dingy/dirty...not milky. Just looked like regular oil to me. I thought about that anitfreeze getting leaked onto something in the engine bay, and I know how it would have gotten there...that little "muscle it up" the hill thing I did might have got the antifreeze hot since there was no wind flowing through the radiatior and it could have come out the overflow hose. BUT...if that were the case, wouldn't I still be able to smell it when I pop the hood?

 

One of the problems with the ss/sc is that it can be hard to tell if it came from the i/c system or the cooling system. I assume you've checked the levels in both? Before you do tests on the engine itself, have someone do a pressue test on the cooling system just to make sure it's holding up. There's always the possibility of a tiny leak that only appears under 15 pounds of pressure.

 

Well I would have thought if there were a leak I'd find evidence on the ground. But I park outside, in the snow usually and there's not a single spot underneath my car. The day I tried to blow it up included lol