Put the car away for the winter in December of last year. No issues with the car at all at the time.
Been busy this spring, so only got around to pulling the car out of my parents garage a week or so ago. (Moving to a new house, so tucked the 8 at my parents for the winter.)

When I got in the car, there is a very strong smell of coolant. If you start the car the smell starts to go away and if you drive anywhere, the smell goes away almost completely. Park the car for a little bit, and the smell is back in the interior.
You can really only smell it inside the car. No particular odor under the engine bay, from the exhaust etc.
I've only driven the car to bring it back to my house, and then a few short runs to test some theories about the smell coming and going.

The car starts fine, no smoke, not down on power, no coolant level drop in the overflow tank, no leaks to be seen in the engine bay on any of the lines or around the water pump, no puddles on the ground. Heat and A/C work fine.


Car is a first-batch 04 (delivered summer of 03) with 47,000km on it (29,000 miles.)
I've been fanatical with the maintenance, car never winter driven, done the recalls/TSBs etc. Car has been flawless up to now, other than cooking a set of coils on a track day.

Any thoughts on things I could check? It seemed to happen spontaneously over the winter. None of the symptoms (other than smell) point to the engine, so my first guess is maybe the heater core?
Anything else that might give an odor? I was thinking some critter might have gotten into my intake and died (going to check that this weekend) but I wouldn't think the smell of that would go away as the car ran.

Any ideas are much appreciated.

 

I agree; sounds like the heater core. Pressurize the system and check for leaks.

 

Also check the passenger side carpet for dampness and also look up under the dash on the passenger side for any telltale evidence of coolant. Sure does sound like a heater core-related problem.

 

Checked the carpet etc. and no dampness. Could see/feel anything up under the dash.
The smell is actually gone now all on it's own. No idea what the problem was/is. I'd probably feel better if I had found a problem. Now I'm just going to be paranoid and checking my coolant level every time I drive anywhere.