Fantastic! Now what?

[AndyKO]

Just pulled back on the drive and noticed a nice new shiny puddle of some type of oil on my drive where I usually park!

Had a quick look with a torch and seems way to clean to be engine oil??? am I right thinking gearbox oil is 'red'?

I'll go soak some up on a tissue and see if that helps identify it.

Had a quick look under the car and can see there is oil on the undertrays from somewhere but just can't see where at them moment..



Oh, it's a W211 E270 CDI (for how long I don't know!)

 

[John]

From memory, I think PAS fluid and ATF are both red?

 

[4life211]

Also steering wheel oil is red

 

[camerafodder]

Check your PAS fluid level and also check if your serpentine belt is wet with oil

 

[AndyKO]

Cheers guys..

Had another 'attempted' look and there is quite a bit of oil on the rear half of the undertray, I'm assuming it's just under where the gearbox is???

Had a quick look under the bonnet and there is no trace of oils seeping from anywhere, so still non the wiser at the mo.

Start work at 06:00 everyday this week til 18:00 so I won't get a chance to take the tray off during daylight hours which is a real bummer!

Wiped some up with a white cloth and it was just the typical clean yellow 'oil' colour???

 

[AndyKO]

Check your PAS fluid level and also check if your serpentine belt is wet with oil

I've checked the 'V' belt (if that's the same thing? and it's clean..

 

[camerafodder]

I've checked the 'V' belt (if that's the same thing? and it's clean..

Gear oil has a very distinctive smell, its quite pungent and smells like acrid tar.

 

[AndyKO]

Gear oil has a very distinctive smell, its quite pungent and smells like acrid tar.

Yeah, I remember the smell of a leaking tranny I once encountered (I'm not talking about 'big John' round the corner!) on a Nissan I once had, I'll go and do a 'sniff' the wet patch test... I just hope the neighbours aren't looking out their windows and catch me on my hands and knees sniffing a wet patch on my driveway!!

 

[John]

Yeah, I remember the smell of a leaking tranny I once encountered (I'm not talking about 'big John' round the corner!) on a Nissan I once had, I'll go and do a 'sniff' the wet patch test... I just hope the neighbours aren't looking out their windows and catch me on my hands and knees sniffing a wet patch on my driveway!!

How do you know where I live?

As long as you aren't doing the sniffing in just your pants with your male chicken out, you should be OK.

 

[AndyKO]

How do you know where I live?

As long as you aren't doing the sniffing in just your pants with your male chicken out, you should be OK.

hahahaha!

 

[AndyKO]

Well, it doesn't look to clever whatever the problem is, I've just got under the car and I can physically see a drop of whatever this oil is dripping out from under the under tray about every 20/30 seconds!

 

[a111r]

ATF is red / brown.
PAS / SLS fluid is yellow to dark, depending on it's age / contamination.

If you have leaking diesel leak off hoses, the fuel collects in the injector recesses, then when full,r on braking, overflows and thus downwards on to under trays, where it may mix with any engine oil residue before hitting the drive.

 

[AndyKO]

ATF is red / brown.
PAS / SLS fluid is yellow to dark, depending on it's age / contamination.

If you have leaking diesel leak off hoses, the fuel collects in the injector recesses, then when full,r on braking, overflows and thus downwards on to under trays, where it may mix with any engine oil residue before hitting the drive.

Thanks, I really don't know where to start looking???

 

[a111r]

Take off the engine cover to rule out leaking fuel.

 

[AndyKO]

Take off the engine cover to rule out leaking fuel.

I'm preparing for the worst case scenario....Valeo fault...

Past couple of weeks car has been showing signs of the fault from what I've been reading

 

[C36fan]

Cheers guys..

Had another 'attempted' look and there is quite a bit of oil on the rear half of the undertray, I'm assuming it's just under where the gearbox is???

Had a quick look under the bonnet and there is no trace of oils seeping from anywhere, so still non the wiser at the mo.

Start work at 06:00 everyday this week til 18:00 so I won't get a chance to take the tray off during daylight hours which is a real bummer!
Wiped some up with a white cloth and it was just the typical clean yellow 'oil' colour???

It might be a collapsed engine mount that just lost its fluid.

 

[AndyKO]

It might be a collapsed engine mount that just lost its fluid.

Now you've lost me....

 

[C36fan]

Now you've lost me....

Years ago I had some suspension work done and I took the car to have the alignment done and as the car was being done some sort of fluid dripped on the floor,and I couldn't see any leaks it turns out to be a collapsed engine mount.

 

[AndyKO]

Years ago I had some suspension work done and I took the car to have the alignment done and as the car was being done some sort of fluid dripped on the floor,and I couldn't see any leaks it turns out to be a collapsed engine mount.

Oh, OK, I really want to get this bloody undertray off to get a look, it's to bloody cold and dark to attempt it now.

 

[markjay]

Years ago I had some suspension work done and I took the car to have the alignment done and as the car was being done some sort of fluid dripped on the floor,and I couldn't see any leaks it turns out to be a collapsed engine mount.

I am assuming you mean the car had an hydraulic engine mount to control/damp engine vibration?

E.g. this:

http://www.partinfo.co.uk/articles/169