coolant smell

[tom]

There's the smell of coolant when I have the heater on and the vent
open. With the vents closed, the smell goes away. There doesn't seem
to be any significant loss of coolant from the reservoir. Has anyone
else run into this and why? A friend thought it may be a pinhole leak
somwhere. It's a WRX wagon 02 with 30k. Thanks.

 

[tom]

Oh yeah. It only comes on when the engine is hot and I'm idling. Not
when moving or cold.

 

[Aaron M]

Does it happen when you have the heater turned on? If so, it's probably a
bad heater core. I had one go out on my '95 Impreza when it was about 4
years old.