Car Heater smells like chalk?

Question

Lately, my car's heater doesn't want to kick on when I'm driving. I have to drive it around letting it blow cold air in my face for about 15 minutes, after which it puts out a fairly strong chalk smell (which goes away quickly) and the heater starts working. Any thoughts on what this could be? There's not a little man clapping erasers in my engine is there?

Answer 1

It's a little man clapping erasers :). Seriously though, this question would be more easily diagnosed if you listed the year/make/model of your vehicle. From a general stand point car heaters work by routing the vehicles antifreeze (which is hot) through a small radiator (called a heater core) inside the vehicle. The electric fan when turned on forces air through this heater core and consequently through your vents.



If your vehicle's operating temperature is not up above the ambient air temperature yet, the coolant will not be warm, hence your air will not be warm.



However, from your question it sounds like you may have a problem with blockage, IE: hot water is never reaching your heater core due to a blockage of some sort. On some makes and models there is a heater core diversion valve (electrically operated) that allows passage of the antifreeze through the heater core. If this valve is bad then that's likely your problem, otherwise you will need to replace your heater core.



Good Luck

Answer 2

I just bought a 2000 Passport and experienced a similar problem. My temperature gage was also wacky - spiking to nearly hot when idle, then dropping nearly to cool when driving. I took it to a mechanic friend of mine and he diagnosed the problem as a bad water pump.



The repair cost about $400 (parts and labor). They also replaced my timing belt (car has 80K miles, so it was nearly that time). Now the temperature is consistant and my heater works great!



The mechanic also told me these cars have an issue with leaky head gaskets - this is a very expensive fix ($1500-1800), so it is something to keep an eye on. If the head gasket gets really bad, you can also experience loss of heater functionality, high engine temp's, or a complete breakdown (if fully blown).

Answer 3

that chalky smell is the smell of your heater core burning up from having an air pocket trapped in there and not enough coolant.



make sure you have enough coolant in the radiator and the overflow tank, and add some with the vehicle running and hot, so you "burp" the air out of the system.

Answer 4

It could be some kind of corrosion in there. Your motor should be replaced.