Corolla D4D Fluid Leak

[jonny__g]

hi all,

just noticed today with my corolla that it seems to be leaving a few 'spots' behind. now i'd never noticed it before but had never looked so dunno how long its been going on for. basically i was parked up for about 15 mins after having drove about ten miles and when i pulled out of the drive i noticed some spotting on the driveway. it wasnt very extremely oily, more like dirty grime of a sort. cant see anything obvious when looking underneath or at the engine (i.e.oil leaking from the filter etc) and i havent yet been able to park it somewhere flat to dip the oil (will do at work tomoro). anybody any suggestions or had anythin similar? car doesnt seem overly noisy or anythin. my suspicions are either engine or gear oil. cheers

j

[CorollaD4D]

do the oil level check at work and let us know how it is. if it is engine oil you should be able to tell straight away since unless the service was done recently the oil will be dark in colour. im not sure of the health and safety on this (i dont really care) but dab your first two fingers in the fluid on the floor and feel the consistency with you thumb and also smell it, you should be able to tell what it is.

also if engine oil was leaking it would leak onto the under tray before dripping on the floor so the leak may be an older problem which you are only just noticing. in a well lit area or with a torch do a quick inspection of the engine bay for anything which looks out of the ordinary.

let us know how you get on.

[jonny__g]

just reversed the car back a bit this morning to see if there had been any leak overnight and there was nothing. I had parked the car facing downhill on a slight incline. I'm wondering did this have any bearing as thats where i usually park and i'd only noticed the fluid spotting on a flat driveway. anyway, will head off to work and then check it at lunchtime

j

[Mooly]

I had a leaky front shocker on the TSport... it nearly reached the point of letting the odd drip reach the ground. Main symptom was the wheel being dirty with an oily film.

A little hot oil goes a long long way and might be hard to spot.

[Bos]

hi all,

just noticed today with my corolla that it seems to be leaving a few 'spots' behind. now i'd never noticed it before but had never looked so dunno how long its been going on for. basically i was parked up for about 15 mins after having drove about ten miles and when i pulled out of the drive i noticed some spotting on the driveway. it wasnt very extremely oily, more like dirty grime of a sort. cant see anything obvious when looking underneath or at the engine (i.e.oil leaking from the filter etc) and i havent yet been able to park it somewhere flat to dip the oil (will do at work tomoro). anybody any suggestions or had anythin similar? car doesnt seem overly noisy or anythin. my suspicions are either engine or gear oil. cheers

j

Before you stopped the engine had you had the a/c on?

Dirty water can some times drip off the pipework in hot weather if the a/c is not turned off before stopping the engine.

[jw67]

I would have said normal condensation from air con too,especially as there was no sign of a leak this morning :)

[jonny__g]

i was thinking maybe aircon as well but i drove back to the driveway where the spotting was and the stain was still on the drive today which made me think that if it were just aircon condensation, would it not have dried by now? the thing thats puzzling me is how i can drive 40 odd miles to work with no sign of a leak and then drive 5 miles to my house and park on the drive way and this 'leak' appears.

btw, i checked the oil at work and it was fine. also there was no leak beneath the car at work

[CorollaD4D]

have you checked coolant? radiator may be leaking?

[nrgizerbunny]

nrgizerbunny taste test:

if it looks too bad to taste, its probably oil

if it smells sweet anti freeze

if it tastes of nothing, 95% chance its air con water

petroleum smell with a slight hint of jasmine - brake/clutch fluid

smells like fish - trasmission oil