It only takes the tiniest amount of coolant leaking to make the smell.
The fumes are poisonous, btw. I imagine the fumes kill  brain cells. 

You could pressure test the system, that might reveal something.

It's a mickey mouse thing to do, but you could put bars leak in your system.
And I don't want to start a whole discussion about leak stopping additives,
but that is one 'cheater' thing you could try. I only use that brand.

Scott
www.turbovans.com 

-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of
Richards, Andrew
Sent: Tuesday, December 18, 2007 2:50 PM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: that sweet coolant smell

Ooooh yeah, my van's front heater smells like maple syrup.  So what's
the problem?  I'm not losing any noticeable level of coolant and don't
see any leaks when I pull the plastic cover off the front blower.  I've
heard heater cores go out, as does a small plastic connector fitting of
some sort (cracks?).  I'm assuming I don't see any leaks because it's
all just evaporating before it can drip off the core.  How do I
troubleshoot this one?

 

Thanks,

Andrew

'87 GL 160K