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
 
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...
 
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!
 
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.
 
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?
 
Last edited:
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.
 
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.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom