Jumped in my 92 4Runner this morning to go to school, and at the first stop light, immediately smelled something apparently burning (smelled like maple syrup). The smell seemed to come in through the air vents. Thought it might be another car until steam (maybe smoke, couldn't tell), came through the hood. Not a ton, but enough to make me wonder what the hell was going on. I immediately turned around to go home, keeping an eye on the temperature guage to make sure the engine wasn't overheating.

Anyway, to make a long story short, I took the truck in and the dealer blamed it on some old heater hoses. He said only one was bad, but he wanted to replace all 4 due to the age of the truck (I thought there was only 1 heater hose??). Anyway, he quoted me something like $200, so considering, I went ahead and told him to do the work.

Does this sound right? I keep thinking that it's a head gasket issue, because of the fact that my idle speed goes down over time regardless of how much I open up the idle screw. Also, I don't see how the hoses leaking could make it smoke in the engine compartment...wouldn't the fluid drop to the ground instead of drop on engine compartments that would cause the steam/smoke? I haven't notcied any leak stains, etc., on the ground, but I have noticed some dark spots on the front diff, etc., that looks like oil but I guess could be coolant.

Thanks for the replies!

 

Was there white smoke coming out of your exhaust? If so, my first guess would be head gasket also. The smell you mentioned is what burning coolant smells like.

 

was there any steam inside the vehicle???

if so it is most likely the heater core.. not a fun project.


if its just a heater hose why not go to a parts store and get the hoses and change them yourself?? its not hard at all

 

Forgot to mention that the $250 included a new tachometer cable as it is getting noisy.

I checked with the dealer, and the TSB has already been done on the head gasket, so I'm hoping that's not what it was. There was no smoke/steam in the vehicle, nor from the exhaust. It seemed as though it was only seeping through the hood. I would've expected to see it coming from under the vehicle, but didn't notice anything.

BTW- Could this be why my heater isn't very warm at all?

 

Yep that sounds right. I'm replacing my engine right now and the heater hoses are around $50 a pop.