volvo 850 '95 coolant leak help!

[Robbie Wilson]

this is a 95 850glt wagon with manual climate control knobs (2 of them- one for each side) whenever they are turned to heat i get a smell of coolant in the car for a second or two, then it goes away. i notice that the coolant level has yet to drop, so i am guessing that this is not a major heater core leak, but rather a heater control unit leak- my question is: can you access the control unit without completely ripping out the dash? and how can i verify that that is the source of the coolant smell? thanks everyone!
-robbie wilson

 

[G Klein]

From what you described it seems that your heater core is starting to fail there is no heater control valve as on Volvo's other models