Engine is steaming hot!

[TechGeddon]

I recently had the thermostat housing split apart (the plastic one)
Now i have one of those aluminum ones that comes apart to change the thermostat.

But now i have noticed that my engine randomly starts to steam every now and then, no its not leaking anywhere, it does have a sweet smell of antifreez though. I can just be idle in or not in rain and it just puffs away for a very short period of time. coolant stays at the same levels and oil is fine as well, any ideas?

[Thymeclock]

I recently had the thermostat housing split apart (the plastic one)
Now i have one of those aluminum ones that comes apart to change the thermostat.

But now i have noticed that my engine randomly starts to steam every now and then, no its not leaking anywhere, it does have a sweet smell of antifreez though. I can just be idle in or not in rain and it just puffs away for a very short period of time. coolant stays at the same levels and oil is fine as well, any ideas?

Yes, it is leaking and that sweet odor you smell (and see) is vaporized coolant. It's leaking when under pressure. You need to find the leak and fix it.

[avguy]

There are 2 likely possibilities. The first would be that there's no coolant loss at all, and the cause is coolant that had pooled in some small nook in the frame or engine component. Easy to imagine this happening if the housing blew up and spewed coolant all over the place.
The second possibility is that one (or more) of the 3 t-stat connections isn't completely tight. This can result in a very small, slow leak that might not show up quickly as a coolant loss in the tank. I've seen this first-hand on mine, and a leak such as this frequently will not show up unless you go find it. Best to do following check with a completely cold engine. Start it up and with the engine going, run a finger (with a nitrite/latex glove is better) all around and especially under the t-stat housing and connections. Make certain that you get to every location. The small hose connection can be a particularly tough one to get fully tight. If you find a leak on one of these connections, and if the repair job didn't replace the old spring clamps, replace those with the better screw type. One other possibility might be the short hose going from the rad to the t-stat housing. If that was removed from the rad, that connector might also be the source of the leak.

[TechGeddon]

Thanks, I will check to find any pools as well as the glove thing and see what i find. it will just take a day or two.