I drive an 02 f150 5.4 fx4 xlt. It has something todo with my heater core I think. I can smell coolant when I enter my cab and when I run my AC but it is not leaking in my cab. It is leaking under my cab and dripping off my frame about a foot behind my passenger tire. It will leaking for about 5-10 minutes when I'm parked then I don't notice it leaking anymore. Any info will help. Thanks!!

 

Check the hoses where they go to the firewall. If the heater core is leaking, that is a big job to replace since the entire dash has to be removed, about a 7 hour job in a shop.

 

i looked at the hoses but they don't seem to be leaking right there

 

It's probably the heater core leaking. Might as well replace the blend door and AC evaporator while you are in there replacing so the dash won't have to be disassembled again hopefully.

 

If it's the heater core leaking wouldn't it be leaking inside my cab?

 

Not necessarily. The AC evaporator condenses moisture out of the air in the cab and there is a drain that allows it to drain to the ground. That is what makes that puddle of water under all vehicles when the AC has been running. The coolant will most likely drain out the same drain line. So locate that drain line and see if there is coolant in the water coming out of the line. If so, you have a heater core leak.

Recently I saw a link to a really good video about how to remove the dash to get to the heater core on our trucks. If you do a search, you can find it probably.