Went to get the 560SL out today, as its been in storage since November, and found lots of red fluid under the car. I had a slight leak near the tranny last year, and mechanic said it wasn't a serious problem at that time. What's strange is that I had a 3' by 2' peice of cardboard under the car, and it was soaked. When I check the tranny fluid, it was fine. Power steering was down about an inch, and oil level was fine. Can the tranny fluid indication be fooled somehow?

After warming it up, I had some smoke coming from under car further back near the catalytic converter, but I could not pinpoint the location of leak.

Car drives, fine, shifts fine, is quite, etc. How could it leak this much just sitting three?

If the seal was bad between tranny and the engine, would it leak more in cold weather than in warm? (this is Buffalo NY, but it's been a fairly warm winter, despite the downtown buffalo snowfall).

Ideas?

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1986 560SL 145k

Did you check the tranny fluid level with the tranny hot and the engine running?

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Ali Al-Chalabi

2001 CLK55
1999 Dodge Ram 2500 Cummins Diesel
2002 Harley-Davidson Fatboy
Merlin Extralight w/ Campy Record

if it is under the front of the car it could be a coolant leak(if you have red coolant). lots of people think that their brakes or tranny is leaking when it is simply the coolant.

Good point about coolant, if you can rule that out....

My guess is that it's trans fluid. If it was the ps, you'd see clear fluid and more than likely it would come from the driver's side, towards the front of your car. A small amount of ATF permeates cardboard easily and appears to be more than you might think...

Regarding the smoke, make sure you're trans vacum modulator is in working order, that could be the source of the white smoke.

is that anything like 'jell-o in the glovebox' ?