Help identifying leak

PeterNem

PeterNem

PeterNem

Soldato
Joined
15 Feb 2003
Posts
8,327
Location
NJ/NY, USA
I noticed when I moved my car earlier that it left a wet patch on the block paving. At first I thought nothing of this. I'd had the air con on and thought it would just be water dripping off the air con pipes.

However, after an hour or so it hadn't evaporated so I then thought perhaps it would be oil.

I've moved it onto the road to stop it marking the paving, but am pretty sure it's not oil.

I've found the point under the car it seems to be coming from and taken a few pics, I wonder if any mechanically minded folks could take a peak and see what they think. Is it likely to be something serious, or safe to drive the 20 or so miles to get get home (I'm at a mate's house).

The fluid looked a really bright orange when I got some on my hand, but unfortauntely when I came back to take a pic most the bright orange stufff had gone leaving just a residue that you can't really tell the colour from the pics, but it's definately orange ish... I wonder if it's the same as the fluid in the expansion tank (pic taken for comparison).

Any ideas? Thanks.

leak1.JPG


You can see in this one it seems to have stained an orangey/purpley colour as it has dried.
leak2.JPG


How it's dripping onto the road (I should add it isn't exactly gushing out, just the occasional drip - it was parked there about an hour and that little patch on the road is all there is)
leak3.JPG


Expansion tank - it's parked with the wheels on the curb so it's hard to tell the level from the pic, but it's about midway between min and max.
leak4.JPG
 
What does it smell of?

Is it slippery like oil and if you dip your finger into the expansion tank does it feel the same between your fingers??


You could even taste it.... Anti freeze is sweet :p
 
Damn, first pic and I knew it was a Mondeo - I spent too much time under mine last week changing the starter! Sad isnt it...

Looks like it could be transmission fluid, tends to be red and the second pic looks like its coming out of the gearbox. Could be a leak from the thermostat which on the Zetecs, sits above the transmission bellhousing. Not sure about the V6 though. Is it an automatic?
 
It's a manual.

Someone over on MEG suggested transmission oil, saying it was red on the automatics.... I assume the oil on the manual boxes would be a similar colour?

As you say, it seems to be coming from the right area and deffinately has a slippery consistancy.

Is it the sort of thing that someone who knew what they were looking for would be able to diagnose pretty quickly? I.e., drive it to a garage, get it up on the ramp and pay them for 15 min or their time to have a quick look?

I'm guessing if it is gearbox oil and it was really bad that the gear change would be really bad, but it's still nice and smooth so I'm guessing it is still Ok to drive for now...
 
PeterNem said:
It's a manual.

Someone over on MEG suggested transmission oil, saying it was red on the automatics.... I assume the oil on the manual boxes would be a similar colour?

As you say, it seems to be coming from the right area and deffinately has a slippery consistancy.

Is it the sort of thing that someone who knew what they were looking for would be able to diagnose pretty quickly? I.e., drive it to a garage, get it up on the ramp and pay them for 15 min or their time to have a quick look?

I'm guessing if it is gearbox oil and it was really bad that the gear change would be really bad, but it's still nice and smooth so I'm guessing it is still Ok to drive for now...
Click to expand...
get it checked out, try the rapidfit in ford branches, they can be good can't they, either way see what they say then go and try fixing it yourself or ring around for quotes :D
 
I doubt a manual would have red oil. I would check the power steering as that normally uses automatic transmission fluid (red).
 
Well, it's starting to get dark now so there's not much more I can do in terms of looking at it.

I have no choice but to drive the 20 miles home tomorrow morning as I have a 10am train booked down to London.

I get back from London on Weds so will take it to a garage Weds afternoon and get someone who actually knows something about cars to take a look... I pretty much draw the limit at driving them and just about being able to tell what all the different parts are and what they do - changing and fixing stuff is about beyond me!
 
I noticed the exact same thing on my car the other day.

I had a few theorys:


Transmission oil. Although mine seems fine, gear change is good.
Air Con Oil. Air Con works very well so cannot think it's leaking. This is red in colour.
Oil on sump. Possible but mine was a red/orange colour too.

Other thing I can think of, due to the heat there is a lot of condensation the pipes and things and perhaps it's just slowly washing crap off of them?

I have fitted an undertray to the car so it's dripping onto that now, will check the condition of it tomorrow and prob wipe it off with some kitchen towel if anymore is there, try and diagnose it.
 
From the pic of the dried on stuff, it looks to me like ATM fluid. As your car is manual, it is probably coming from the power steering (as ALD suggested).

You probably can't check the gearbox oil (normally sealed on a manual), but you can check the levels of the other fluids to see if any of them are red / low.
 
You can check the gearbox oil on the Mondeo 'box but it involves getting underneath the car whilst it being perfectly level and unscrewing a bolt. Then, the level of the fluid should be just up to the bottom of the hole.

Sounds easy but it isnt :)
 
When i changed the oil on my Rover gearbox, the oil that came out was red, it didn't smell like auto fluid though, so might of been a different type of manual transmission fluid.



Go on and taste it, you know it'll be good for you, just the mounty off Due South :p
 
Ok, bit of an update.

I'm back from Londonn, the car has been sat 36 hours and there isn't that much fluid underneath it... it seems to leak immediately after driving, but then stop.

I think I've found what it is - coolant - it's obviously leaking very slowly as the expansion tank is still about mid-way between min and max.

My reason for this... there is orange crystalisation on one of the pipes leading into the engine which is directly above the gearbox, and I can trace from here a few drips down onto the side of the gearbox housing, from where it runs to the lower point on the gearbox and drips off.
 
Is it a hose that can easily be replaced?

You dont want it to split totally when you are off somewhere! :)
 
leak5.jpg


It's not something I fancy replacing, doesnt look the easiest thing to get at so I'll take it down to rapid fit tomorrow, I don't plan on driving anywhere between now and then - I don't want to spray coolant everywhere and the engine overheat!!

edit... I see there's a thing a bit like a jubilee clip on there (as you can see, I'm not very mechanically minded...) what are the odds that just needs tightening?
 
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Trusty old Haines manual tells me that particular pipe is the coolant return pipe from the engine block, the thermostat is located just to the right of the pipe.
 
I have also found out what my leak is.

An oil leak. It ever so slow though, obviously on last oil change they did not replace the sump plug and washer and I am getting about one drip every fortnight from there. It drips onto the engine undertray though so I am not worried.

I was going to do an oil change toward the end of the summer and have a brand new sump plug and washer which I was going to use on the last Mondeo but never did so it's no real issue :)

Keep us updated with your leak Pete.
 
Quite impressed with Loughborough Ford.

I turned up at 8:30 this morning without an appointment, and by 8:45 the car was up on a ramp with my stood underneath able to get a good look at it. One of the guys was really friendly and helpful and we ended up just chatting for quite a while, but he looked and confirmed what I thought it was.

It's definately just coolant, coming from the pipe that leaves the engine block and goes to the thermostat, but at the other end of the pipe to what I thought it was (nearer to the engine than the thermostat).

I can't easilly get to this end of the pipe from the top of the engine bay, but it seems quite easy to get to from underneath, so I've said they can do it, they're just going to refit the pipe and also put a jubilee clip on in addition to the clip already on there.

What's also good is how quick they can get it in..... 8:00am tomorrow morning :)

Glad it's nothing more severe.
 
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