Coolant odor

Make sure your extended warranty covers it. In other words, read it and be sure. There are two kinds of aftermarket warranties, Exclusionary and Named Component. Exclusionary covers everything the factory warranty would cover except the wearable parts i.e., bulbs, hoses, belts, etc.

Named Component coverage covers only a named list of parts that are indicated in your actual warranty. There are typically three tiers of coverage in Named Component coverage... Bronze, Gold, Platinum. Each tier covers a bit more than the prior.

If you purchased the warranty at the time of sale as a new car, then your coverage won't begin until your factory coverage has termed out (3/36). As it looks, your factory coverage has termed out, so depending on the type of warranty you purchased, your extended warranty may cover it. A new car extended warranty is never a benefit on the front side of your car note. It only has value on the backside of the note (after factory coverage has expired). That's why you never purchase these warranties on a new car. You won't use it until factory coverage expires first. You spend money up front, maybe even finance the coverage and pay interest on it, while you can't use it until 3 or 36k hits. The warranty company will also require you to keep all your service interval records to be sure you didn't do anything that may have caused any damage (typically neglect). In other words, you'll need to be sure and have proof that you serviced the vehicle at every service interval required by the factory or they void your warranty (deny the claim). They will ask for this proof, I guarantee it.

You may already know all this, in which case this is all redundant. However, I say all this with accuracy because I was in the VSC business for quite a long time and worked for a couple of the biggest providers in the US. I have only purchased VSC contracts on a couple of used cars in my distant past, and they paid for themselves due to large component breakdowns that were covered. The warranty paid for itself in those instances. I self-insure these days and bypass the VSC industry.

Be sure you know what your coverage is and document all your general maintenance and/or work done on the vehicle. The first line of defense of a warranty on anything we purchase is to protect the admin obligor... the issuer. A warranty company issues thousands of contracts over the course of a year, so they pay claims based on actuarial data over those thousands of claims. There is a bell curve on every warranty they base their losses on, so if one purchased let's say, a 5 year 100k mile warranty, chances are good based on the data the customer will not have the car that long, trade it in before the warranty terms and no claim was filed, or the car was totaled and the warranty was never realized on a claim. So, the company never paid out on that warranty, but they got to sell that warranty and profited from it with no risk realized. The whole VSC game is based on unrealized risk spread out over thousands, if not millions of warranties sold. The retail cost of these warranties are extremely inflated and the Dealer pays much less than you can imagine to have that warranty in their finance dept. to sell to you and me. Because I know the true cost, I have negotiated a 7-year/100k warranty down from $3000.00 retail to $500.00. I know a lot of folks in the dealer business, so I always negotiate the price down and they know I know their true cost. I don't want them to give it away, so I don't mind them making some profit on it. But, when their cost is $300.00 and they retail it for $2500.00, I'm not about to take in the shorts. These warranties are grossly overpriced.

VSC warranties are really never a good bet and you could take those financed premiums and put them in an account for such breakdowns that might occur. I hope it all works out for you and there is nothing major going on with your rig. Maybe it's simple and we'll pray the extended coverage does what you paid for it to do.

Sorry this was so long, but I just want you to be sure you know what your coverage is and don't get caught with your nickers down around your cankles.

May the force be with you