Escaping Liquid - What is it?

TheCamel

New Member
I have a problem with where this post should be put. Until i can work out what this liquid is and where it comes from i don't know if it should be stored under "Gearbox" "Brakes" "Engine" or "Heater"
I have a P6 V8.
Stand with your left foot at the rear of the front wheel. Knee down and you can see in the wheel arch the bulkhead and the exhaust. I have a liquid that finds the lowest point of the bulk head and drops the liquid onto the exhaust and then it travels a short distance towards the rear (3 inches) and then falls to the floor.
I have returned back to Alexis twice and found a small puddle. Half a tea cup for example.
The liquid is light in colour and watery. It has a slight oily feel.
Wrong colour for the gearbox and wrong colour for engine oil.
Brake fluid or power stearing fluid? However the levels have not dropped as i made a mark on the brake fluid res and measured down into the power stearing tank. On the first occasion i came back to her and noticed the puddle but the dripping had stopped. Second time i noticed it dripping and lifted the bonnet and lay underneath. Cannot work out from whence it came. The second time it stopped dripping after 5 minutes. I can only presume that would have been the case the first time as well. That was the weekend before last and she hasn't done it again.
Both times the weather was dry. First time the car was parked on the flat and the second time she was facing up hill but only a very slight incline.
I'm stumpped guys, over to you.




Edited By TheCamel on 1190819111
 
Obviously things will be a lot easier once you find out what the fluid is. PAS and ATF are red (normally,) engine oil black, brake fluid sounds a possibility but not if the level doesn't drop. Could be coolant, check it against what's in the rad to see if it's similar. It could just be rain that's laying up somewhere and taking its time to reach the ground.
Is it dropping on the drivers or passenger side?
 
You don't say if it is manual or auto box, could be clutch fluid, which I think is a seperate reservoir, although there won't be much before it runs out.
 
Cheers guys. To clarify some points.
To stand with ones left foot at the rear of the front wheel you must be standing on the nearside of the car.
She is a V8 auto 1973.
I've had here just after easter. I overfilled the autobox once and so i did get some drips on the floor but there is really very little in the way of "oil drips" (working on the principle that if a V8 doesn't leak it must be empty i've checked. She is perfect on engine oil level)
1) When the "liquid" drips onto the exhaust pipe it doesn't give off a smoke as you would expect an oil to do.
2) The place where the "liquid" dropped onto tarmac was washed. The tarmac is now cleaner in that spot then the rest of the drive.
3) I haven't tried to taste it yet. If she does it again i will but the first time she did it i did wondered whether a dog had used the spot previously and i'd just parked over that area. I might be daft but i'm not that daft.
4) brakes are as they have always been. Press them and if the screen wasn't there you could fly out and run yourself over.
5) power steering is light and works great.
6) coolant level is to just level with the "vains" in the radiator. If that's what they are called.
7) doesn't have aircon but could the heater have anything to do with it.
8) washer bottle is the only vessel that i've filled up recently but the level on that appears to be okay.
I really am stumped.
 
I would check the coolant first.

Open the rad cap (COLD!!) and see how much coolant you have. If it is dripping on to the exhaust I would reckon that pipes to the heater or even the heater is suspect. lift off the air filter and shine a torch around. Also see if there is any fluid lying on top of the valley gasket.

If the car is hot then check with the engine running and you may see or feel so hot spray/steam.

Colin
 
webmaster said:
You don't say if it is manual or auto box, could be clutch fluid, which I think is a seperate reservoir, although there won't be much before it runs out.
I seem to remember that car as being an auto.
On the manual 3500S the clutch and brake fluids use the same reservoir, and IIRC they're designed so that in the event of fluid loss, the clutch is lost before the brakes. (And if not it should be!)
 
Another thought is petrol, that will certainly clean the drive, but you normally smell the leak before you see it.
 
>>The tarmac is now cleaner in that spot then the rest of the drive.<<

Brake fluid will clean some things and dissolve others. So will petrol. It's not red so that rules out ATF and PAS fluids unless they are really old and decomposed and they arent; usually associted with garage floor cleaning - rather the opposite.

When did you last change the fluids and what is the colour of the stuff in the system now?

>> doesn't have aircon but could the heater have anything to do with it.<<

Two possibilities here

One, if the core is leaking it could be coolant escaping from the heater, but that would show in the radiator level.

Two, the heater assembly can collect water in some weather conditions; you could be just seeing the results of accumulated water leaking out through a rusty spot ion the heater box or out the drain hoses

Antifreeze might have slight cleaning powers, but not rusty water unless it copntains detergent from the last time you washed the car?

Given the location of the leak I'd say look for leaks in the cooling system or accumaualted water in the hearer first the 'oiliness' might just be due to the mystery fluid having travelled around the engine bay
 
Just to follow up my original post.

My post was made Sep. 26 2007,12:59 - It is December 11th and is has not happened again.

Still driven most weekends. Yes it was out in the rain the other day.

Brakes still brake, Sterring still steers, heater still heats, window washers still washes windows. Shag pile carpet still on the floor. :p

Cheers for your advice.
 
Hi,

I had a very similar leak on my V8, normally when left parked overnight. Mine was on the drivers side, and dripping onto the starter motor, then the exhaust, then the floor. One morning when I started the car there was a misfire on the rear cylinder, and the coolant level had dropped. The problem was traced to a leaking head gasket around the rear water jacket. Replaced the head gasket, and problem solved.

Hope this helps:)
 
I also had a mysterious leak on my garage floor. My 3500s was only taken out every week or so ( I barely did about 1500kms per year ). I spent time on my knees trying to trace the source. Like the Camel, I stopped short of tasting it. ( I may also be daft but I am not that daft.) Finally the source became apparent. One of the two cats that sleep in the car in winter and on the roof in summer decided that it would demonstrate ownership by spraying on it as well. I caught the cat in the act and aimed a hearty kick at it as raced out the door. Predictably, I missed.
 
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