Help - Oil Leak

[lotteboom]

Hi Guys,

I am new to the forum, new to driving and new to my 1999 C200 merc. Oh I am also female so patience required lol

I recently passed my test, so my wonderful other half got me a car he felt I would be safe in and enjoy driving - I have to say after my MK3 golf, and his 325 BMW diesel its sooooooooo smooth - well mostly.

there are 2 things which are worrying me, firstly sometimes when driving along it seems to stick in about 3rd gear (approx 40mph) but if I turn the ignition off and on again whilst moving it resets and goes back to normal - this happens about twice every 2nd journey or so (I travel 80 miles per day round trip to work, and it seems to happen once engine is warmed up).

Today when I went to the car park in work I noticed that there was a puddle of oily stuff near to the inside of the passenger wheel, to the front end of the car. (not black like engine oil - opaque and light brown in colour with little to no odour - dont know if that helps any lol - well I am a girl).

I moved the car to go get fuel and parked it slightly past the original patch and 2 hours later seen that there was a new one - I havent yet checked under the bonnet to see if there is oil spray anywhere I just wondered if someone can tell me what I need to look for - I am a petite lady so dont want to be taken for a purse when going to a dealer -

can anyone offer any advice - car was built in Germany I believe - WOB20202 is the start of the number.

I have attached pic of leak so you can see where it is under the car to see if that helps...any advice would be gratefully received!!

 

[BlackC55]

It looks like gearbox oil. I suspect one of the cooler pipes is split or rusted away.

 

[lotteboom]

Thank You!

Thanks for reply, thats the news I was hoping for!

Ah well home to tell the other half the good news!

 

[lotteboom]

thanks again

Went home and other half had a look at pipe - yes it is quite corroded he said. He then gave it a wipe with a cloth to see how bad it was - still fine at this point - get in car to reverse it out of garage and pipe gave up and basically emptied the ATF all over the ground

but new pipe on order, so looking forward to getting her back in a weeks time (or hopefully less!!)