Vectortrex

iTrader: (1)

Edit: Currently assuming this is the pan, and I'm being mislead by a few things. Going to re-do the pan gasket and report back in a few days. Thanks for looking though, if you have any other ideas feel free to suggest below)

I apologize in advance for how vague this post is, but I'm hoping it rings some bells before I start digging much deeper. (Edit: more details in posts below)

I recently noticed my car has been leaving a small amount of fluid on the garage floor. I first spotted it a week ago but it was only one drop small drop, and I wrote it off as condensation.

I noticed yesterday that the leak had become worse, and it was now leaving enough to do a finger and sniff test on it.

What I found is a clear brownish fluid. It's thick, smooth, and odorless. The car had its last oil change >900 miles ago but the dipstick has a fairly distinct gasoline odor, where this stuff registers a solid 0 on the sniff test. The fluid is also very clean, which is inconsistent with the dipstick.

Brake and power steering fluid don't appear to be low, but the transmission syncros have been getting moodier, so I'm assuming the source of the leak is the transmission.

Last night I jacked the car up but the leak source isn't obvious. Basically everything from the cross member to halfway down the transmission heat shield is covered in goo. I didn't see any obvious source on the side or bottom, but I don't know the usual leak locations. Most of the actual dripping seems to be coming from around the cross member area.

So, hoping someone has seen this before and can point me at some good places to start poking before I get much deeper into this. I had hoped this would be an easy "Yep, there's the leak" thing, but of course it's never that easy. I'll also try to get some pictures up tonight if that helps anyone. I also need to check the fluid level, but I didn't see a dipstick or anything obvious for this so it'll have to wait until tonight.

Vectortrex

iTrader: (1)

Ok, update~

Pictures: Imgur: The most awesome images on the Internet

The mess stops a few inches into the bell housing, which was not what I was expecting. The oil also looks a lot darker on the heat shield than what was leaking out; not sure if this is just the oil mixing with dirt that was already in the pan, or an indicator of Bad Things, but it's still entirely odorless.

In the last two pictures I found what looks like some kind of hole in the bottom of the trans case. It looks intentional, and it's in the bellhousing (which shouldn't matter), but I took a couple of shots anyway since it looks like something has oozed from there. However it was relatively dry so I'm assuming that's not the leak source.

96fd3s

cant see your images, but it could be the rear main seal leaking..
that will leak into your bell housing / clutch

Vectortrex

iTrader: (1)

Found some evidence of oil on the pan bolts, but not the pan itself. Looks like the oil on the trans and heat shield are likely just blow by from a leak higher up in the engine. The main concentration appears to be on the cross brace.

Still not sure on the source, but I cannot for the life of me figure out what this fluid actually is. It has no smell, no taste, but has a consistency similar to oil. I suppose it's probably oil but the lack of a smell is throwing me for a loop. Even my clean 5w30 has a smell though.

The pan looks like it was sealed by someone with muppets for hands, so that's a fairly prime suspect for a leak source. Looks like the rear is obscured by the brace, and the bottom of the pan is bone dry; however it could be leaking from a side seal and down is just the easier path. Still, the oil is still firmly on the 'F' and the engine oil has a strong gas odor, so I find that a difficult conclusion to draw. Guess I'll crawl back under and poke around a bit more.

edit: After checking more, it does seem like the main concentration is at the bottom of the bellhousing. It could be leaking there from the engine, or it could be leaking from the trans. Honestly not sure, and I'm not in a position to pull the trans to find out. Probably just going to admit defeat on this one and take it to the dealer.

Vectortrex

iTrader: (1)

Ok, so I popped the trans inspection window, and checked the shaft from the clutch to the transmission case. Looks dry as a bone up there, with no signs of it ever leaking which I believe eliminates the trans from the equation. The inner bell housing did have a bit of gunk at the bottom, but it was nowhere near damp enough to be the source of our mystery leak.

There is also a bit of gunk coming out of the upper front spark plug, but I don't think that's bad enough to cause the leak either. It does looks like it might be at risk of fouling the spark wire though, so I'll have to take a look at that later.

So to sum up the current situation:
- Oil most concentrated at the bottom of the trans bell housing.
- Inspection window shows trans seal fine, engine seal maybe has a slow leak but not the cause
- No oil collecting at the bottom of the oil pan
- Cross brace basically coated
- Trans heat shield splattered
- No signs of leaking from the upper half of the engine
- A couple of the oil pan bolts have a drop of oil collected on them
- Oil does not smell like the oil in the pan (Dipstick smells of gas, this oil is entirely odorless)

Edit: Starting to think the dipstick smell is a red herring. After looking over it more, everything points to a pan leak. There's no obvious source of major leaking above the pan, and both motor mounts are covered in it (which appears to be a common leak place for pans). P/O installed a pan brace at some point so it's possible he either messed this up, or tried to re-use the old sealer. Going to re-do the pan and report back in a few days, unless anyone wants to chime in with additional ideas.