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#1
11-05-2013, 07:38 PM
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What is this leak?
Hi - anyone want to help me identify what this puddle of fluid sitting on my garage floor is? Here's the challenge - I don't have the car. My girlfriend advised that there was a huge puddle on the floor but that she started the car and drove off before I got home.
It appears a little thin to be oil, and not distinctly colored like tranny fluid. The car ran for a good 15 minutes (I am told) with oil levels reading relatively normal (the dash controls and dipstick) and no overheating (in the short ride, in the cold, mind you). Its a big puddle that, although I don't know for sure, looks as though it could have originated toward the front of the car. Attached pictures show size of puddle relative to my foot. And a couple blurry upclose of it on my finger. Help? Last edited by amt230; 11-05-2013 at 08:48 PM. 
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#3
11-05-2013, 07:56 PM
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Sorry, thought I had that in my footer. It's a 1970 220d.
My own brainstorming is leading me to believe its PS fluid. But I have no way of confirming that. (Yes, it has power steering.) Does have A/C. Does have power brakes. The rest is as you would expect.
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#5
11-05-2013, 10:01 PM
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Im surprised that is still liquid as filthy as it is.
A bumper to bumper fluid change should help you find the leak. Look for bad hoses, loose fittings ect as you do the fluid change. Changing filters while you do that would be nice too.
__________________
1985 300D 198K sold 1982 300D 202K 1989 300E 125K 1992 940T "If you dont have time to do it safely, you dont have time to do it" "The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not."
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#6
11-06-2013, 12:52 AM
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Is it watery or oily?
Does the car have a manual or automatic transmission? If auto, pull the dipstick and smell the fluid. Look for black streaks in it. If it's your tranny fluid, then it's burned and don't drive it anymore until you fix the problem. If you have a manual tranny, it could be your flex hose between your master and clutch slave cylinders has started leaking and will soon drain all your brake fluid out of the car. Or your slave cylinder itself it leaking. Your clutch will fail and so will your brakes. Or you could have just lost a single front brake line. If it's watery, it could be your AC has died and peed out a puddle of the black funk that happens when these pumps die. There would have to be a crack in a hose though. If it's oily but thin, your overflow valve on your injector pump probably spat out an excess amount of fluid if it's been a while since you've changed the fluid. Phil Forrest
__________________
1972 220D "Trudy," named by a friend. "The 220D sounds good... I suspect it is the only car that you need a calendar for, rather than a stopwatch, when doing acceleration tests." Tom Abrahamsson
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#7
11-06-2013, 01:18 PM
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That is an engine oil.
tranny is redish, power steering is redish. you could have had too much oil and now with the leak is still ok but the final word is you have MASSIVE LEAK. I would suggest you wash the engine with engine cleaner and spry the bottom of the car. Then run it for few minutes and while running start the inspection, put a carton board under neath and follow the leak.
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#8
11-06-2013, 03:47 PM
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If you have an oil cooler this is possibly a leak from a hose connecting to the oil cooler or the cooler itself leaking.
The oil cooler would be located next to the radiator and have a hose going in the top and out of the bottom. This would fit with your information of it being near the front of the auto and the fact that it is almost 100% engine oil out of a diesel engine. Whatever it is it needs attention ASAP. A leak will not correct itself, and if the leaking part fails all the oil could be pumped out of the engine in less than two minutes.
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#9
11-06-2013, 03:53 PM
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If the car is still operating and the dipstick still shows proper oil level then it's not engine oil. The oil is not jet black on the OP's finger and the edges of the puddle appear to be evaporating in the photo. Engine oil won't evaporate.
Phil Forrest
__________________
1972 220D "Trudy," named by a friend. "The 220D sounds good... I suspect it is the only car that you need a calendar for, rather than a stopwatch, when doing acceleration tests." Tom Abrahamsson
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#10
11-12-2013, 10:12 PM
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Still no idea
Well, I've spent some time checking around the fluids, and the only thing that was low was the radiator (but I haven't looked in there in a year, so who knows). The car is still running stable, and I know a leak doesn't correct itself, but I have no idea what else to do, since it's showing all levels fine and is running ok.
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#11
11-12-2013, 10:23 PM
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While working on my fuel system today, I spilled fuel on my garage floor, and with all the dirt and oil around the engine bay, the puddle on the floor looked just like yours.
__________________
1975 300D
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