I have a couple of issues that are really getting on my nerves. I have an 03 H2 that is not under warranty. The first issue is everytime I go to startmy truck, the red neutral light where you select 4 high or 4 low is on. I have to hold it down to swith it into 4 high. The weird thing is, is even though the light is saying its in neutral the truck drives fine. Any ideas?

The second issue is when I park my truck I can smell antifreeze. I took it to a shop and they pressure tested it above normal operating pressure and sure enough, they didn't find a leak. They ran the vehicle for a half an hour in their lot and no leak was found. I have a garage floor that proves there is a leak. The best thing about it is like every H2 there is a skid plate underneath and all the fluid that leaks, leaks from the back so I have no idea which side its coming from. The mechanic said he could replace the heater core at a cost of around $1000 but that might not fix the problem. Any ideas?

Thanks

 

do you smell the antifreeze in the cabin, or outside when you get out of your truck? does it smell if you have the temp control set to 60 degrees, or only if you've been using the heat?

as for the transfer case lights, can't help with that one, haven't heard of that before.

 

Find another mechanic. You should run from any mechanic that offers to spend $1,000.00 of your money with no assurances that it will fix your problem. Sounds like just a guess on his part. I had a leak like that once that drove me nuts. Took awhile to find it but turned out to be a small crack in the overflow tank.

 

remove the skid plate and see if you can get a better "garage floor anaylasis" of where it's coming from. Any temp problems according to guage? I had a bad thermostat in my dodge that made it run hot just a couple of times before I figured it out and it lost some coolant outof the overflow. As far as neutral light, I would begin by cleaning connections if everything was working ok even when it says neutral. That's just where I'd start. I'm sure there are guys here that have a more precise educated opinion.

 

My temp gauge stays around 190 - 200 so the truck doesn't over heat. The only time I smell it is when I get out of the truck while driving I can't smell it. As far as having the temp gauge, it doens't matter. It did it in the summer time as well as the winter time.

 

Sounds like heater core.

 

so the smell is outside, not in the cabin. have you pressure washed the engine compartment? that would be a start, get everything clean so you can more easily spot any leaks or dust buildup from something that may be seeping slowly. if you're not smelling it in the cabin, i don't think it would be your heater core. especially if you smell it even in the summer when the A/C is on and no coolant is running through the core.

 

Bus,

I thought coolant always runs threw the heater core????????? I thought that you when you changed the thermostat it would have a damper to chage the air flow in the HVAC system. I have never seen a variable Heat Heater core.

As for the problems I also think you should remove the skid plate for a couple of days. As long as you are not wheeling it everything underneith will be fine. Sounds like an overflow bottle problem to me.

 

it may always run through the heater core on these, i'm thinking back to my older cars - but then i just disconnected the water lines and took the core out of the system until i could replace it. i know that the manual recommends turning on the heater and fan when the engine gets hot, so it could be that the fan is enough to pull heat out of the coolant, or it gives it opens the core for moreplumbing to run through. still, if the smell is outside, it probably isn't the heater core anyway. my reservoir bottle cracked last summer, along the seam, but i was easily able to see the damage since the truck was excessively hot from pulling the camper and coolant was all over the wheel well. i'd agree with removing the skidplate for a while (and remove the tranny protection or put the rear 3 bolts for the skidplate back in - i learned the hard way not to let the back protection hang down in front even for a short trip [&o]). if it's a small leak, you may not see anything on the ground, since it will be ~200 degrees and evaporate before it hits the ground. while you have the skidplate off would be a good time to pressure wash the engine compartment as well, easy access to the bottom of the engine. . . . .

 

The coolant smell in my opinion is the water pump... I see it in the 8.1ls at work now and then... drop the skid plate and see if you can get a look at the weephole...

The lights is another story... probably same as what others have posted in here... bad wiring, switch, actuator, TCM.... etc...