Name That LEAK!

[Aronis]

Hello all,

I did a drive to Boston and Back, 5 hours each way, mild driving, and when I returned I noticed a puddle under my car. :o(

I finally took a few minutes to put it up on my ramps to take a look. I was hoping it was just the under pan seal on the transmission but this is what I found.



Anyone have an idea where this could be coming from? TC?


Thank you,

Mike

[Aronis]

Input Shaft Seal?

[LaserSVT]

Rear main

[LaserSVT]

Input Shaft Seal?

Wrong color fluid.

[Aronis]

Looks like Transmission fluid, red.....I guess it could be oil...

[LaserSVT]

If thats red I need my eyes checked bad.

[Aronis]

I really wish the dam car had a dip stick in the transmission, it would make life a lot easier....just check and refill and let it leak. LOL.....

[Aronis]

Yes I know and agree, but on the garage floor and on my finger it looked red...maybe just dirt......Looks different in the picture on the transmission.....

[P1054]

The stock trans fluid isn't red, it's more amber. But that does look like oil in the pic.

[Aronis]

So, rear main, urgency to fix? Just watch oil level? Drive local only?

[Bigglezworth]

Taste it. Seriously. Differential fluid, transmission fluid, and engine oil all taste different and you can readily differentiate which is which when they get dirty and the color isn't so 'obvious'. It doesn't look like it's wet on either side of the transmission, so unless you can better confirm if the drivers side is 'wet' below the axle area, I'm ruling out either the differential seal or axle output shaft seals. It also doesn't look like engine oil to me since the engine oil is quick to be polluted with carbon as part of combustion blow-by so my money isn't on the RMS. The photo looks like tranny fluid to me and it's location suggests it possibly the front seal on your input shaft. Clearly you will want to watch the level of your engine oil, but since you can't do the same for the tranny, ensure you are also watching how much you are depositing on the floor over the next bit. If your engine oil doesn't go down while you're leaving behind, it's obviously not the RMS. You don't want to run the tranny low on fluid either, but unfortunately there is no dipstick to check quickly, so you would at a minimum need to remove filler plug and check at the documented temperature for filling. Either way, it's going to be some $$ to fix unfortunately. Boo..

[bethridg]

I had an identical looking leak before I pulled my motor. Thought it was rear main as well. When I got it apart, it was completely dry behind the flex plate. Whichever it is you will have to separate motor and trans to fix anyway.

[ttboost]

Whichever it is you will have to separate motor and trans to fix anyway.

Yep, just repair whichever side is more wet....

[4everRS]

Like Tim said. Taste it. I was having lunch with a few buddies, one of them having a leak. I suggested to taste it and they looked at me like I just ate my pet cat. It works. Back in high school engine building class, this was one of the first this they taught us.

My vote on the leak is trans fluid

[Aronis]

Differential fluid has sulfur smell and is dark. I'm not tasting it...LOL.....

Just wrestling with selling it as is or dumping more money into it. Spent 900 on CV boot, 1600 on front bumper cover.....

[Bigglezworth]

Spent 900 on CV boot

Yikes! Did you get a complementary reach around at least?

[ttboost]

Yeah, I hope he forgot a decimal point...

[Aronis]

it was $900 ..but included..Oil Pan seal, oil change, repair a coolant leak (loose tubing) and fix the CV boot (both on same axel of course), also check the valve guides since he found a piece of plastic in the oil pan. (turns out they change the valve guides at an earlier service and did not charge me> LOL)