Whenever I am starting off I have started to hear a sound coming from the dash area that sounds like running water. My g/f says she has heard it for a long time but I just noticed it. My floorboards are not wet so it shouldn't be my heater core and I am not running hot. Any ideas?

It's coolant moving through the heater core. You might be a little low. It's normal, if you listen you'll hear it when you shut the engine off, too.

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Okay man thanks for the reply. Like I said my g/f says she has always heard it. Maybe I am just not attentive enough? lol

Sometimes the heater core gets blocked up with gunk towards the bottom and will make this sound also but I agree with you being low on coolant. If your radiator is low and your reservoir is normal then you could have a bad radiator cap.

I agree that it's the heater core with air trapped in it, but I disagree that it's normal.

Every time I've had the running water sound in the dash, it's been because some part of my cooling system had failed and was leaking air into the system, or water out of the system. A normal cooling system shouldn't have ANY air in it.

Top off the cooling system every morning until it's consistently full. It helps a lot to run the heater for 5 minutes before shutting off the car every night.

If it's always an inch or two low, replace radiator cap (most likely), check for leaks or white deposits around water neck, replace thermostat, check all cooling lines behind radiator, and behind engine next to firewall. If all else fails, it may be your headgasket.