My mom drives a 95 Explorer XLT 4x4 with a 4.0L V6, has about 95,000 miles on it, purchased used in 98, about a year ago we started having problems with the heating, traced it to the thermostat, put in a cheap one as a temporary fix, that one went bad so we put in the Ford one and the heating and temp have been fine since, problem now is a nasty smell, kind of like burning antifreeze but not quite, you can smell it sometimes when driving but it is most notciable when you stop and walk past the front of the car, for my life I can't figure it out, any ideas, anyone had this with their 4.0?

 

check the heater control valve...its a valve close to the heater box under the hood,2 hoses go in 2 go out with a vac. line on it.......common part to leak,we sell about 2-4 a week....Ford part # F87Z-18495-AA cost around $23.

 

If the smell is mostly inside the car, it is probably a leaking heater core. Outside, probably some valve or hose connection with a slow leak. Hot coolant is one of the strongest and most annoying odors so a small amount makes a lot of smell.

 

i will look into both of those, anyone else have some ideas?

 

wash ur *** it helps! However if you turn on ur AC heat it should increase the smell more if it is ur evap case.

 

guess the folks at the dealership had bad vision i glanced over it one day while i was home, leaking valve covers gaskets, so simple and yet so stinky

 

nice. at least you found it