Hey guys, I'm in need of some advice. I have an '06 MR with 12k miles on it and I've developed some sort of mystery drip near the front end of the car. It's not oil, antifreeze, or a/c condensation. I crawled underneath the car and it seems to run along this bar underneath by exhaust. Just to put the picture in context, I'm right behind the driver side wheel looking toward the passenger side wheel.

Any ideas?

 

Sure it's not oil? The oil pan looks quite grimy.

 

yea looks like oil.. if not maybe just water that splashed up while you were driving?

 

I checked the oil drain plug and filter and neither of those show any sign of leaking so I'm kinda at a loss where oil would be coming from. Is there some other place I can check?

 

axle seal? leaking powersteering line? both of those items are above your little mess there.

 

also check your oil feed and return lines.

 

sounds like engine oil, are you sure its not oil. maybe its getting caught in the undertray

 

Back and sides of the valve cover. I don't know if you've done cams or anything else to have the cover off but, I had a leak somewhere in the back that wasn't easy to see. It covered pretty much everything from there down.

I would hit it with some degreaser and a pressure washer (where you can safely use one with out damaging stuff). Wait for it to dry then go take a short drive. Then start looking for the leak when there isn't so much of a mess.

It could also just be oil that was trapped in the undertray from removing the filter during your last oil change.

 

Don't forget the 05 and 06 had the ACD which put an extra possible leak source right in the area the OP is referring to. Another possibility is the head gasket leaking down the back of the block. It may not be blown as far as the engine is concerned but could be leaking out the back of the block between the head and head gasket.

Josh

 

What color is the fluid?

 

Thanks for the all the suggestions! I'll double check the undertray to make sure there's no oil in it from my last oil change. To date the car has no mods and with only 12k miles on it I'm hoping there is no head gasket issue.

The fluid resembles the color and consistency of new motor oil and not the black stuff that usually comes out of the oil pan when I drain it. I'm due to change my oil in the next couple of days, so I'll try cleaning up the area and see if I can figure out where it's coming from. If nothing else, I can drop it off at the dealer since I'm under warranty. A little hesitant to do that though.

 

I'm not exactly local but if you want to bring it down to Cameron I can take a look at it sometime. It's probably something simple like you mentioned. Oil spilled onto the underpanel is pretty likely.

Josh

 

Stop guessing and pour in some UV oil dye and use a black light.

 

wash everything down with some degreaser, start the car and start looking for leaks.

where the TC and the tranny bolts together very common leaks hapen at those little o-rings.

it can be manny things, clean with DG, start car iddle, look for leaks

 

apagan hit the nail on the head if its not left over oil change mess i would bet that it has something to do with the tcase tranny area. Thats where mine was leaking after i swaped the cluctch and fly wheel. How fast does the fluid leak out.