Brake Fluid Leaking

[jamesgood72]

Hi,

I walked out to my car at work this morning, after having driven in 14 miles from home a few hours ago, and there was a puddle of a thin, oily fluid under the drivers side tail pipe. Looking closer, it appeared that there was the thin, yellowish oily fluid dripping from the underside of the tail pipe, not from out of the end of the pipe, but having dripped from above it. It appeared to be dripping from some body work above in the pipe, but I haven't been able to see exactly where from yet.

Oh dear.

Anyone got any ideas? I haven't started the car yet, but the brake pedal feels normal, the master brake level in the front of the car is around half full, and there is no fluid from anywhere else on the car. It doesn't appear to be clutch fluid (what does that look like?).

I find it strange that brake fluid would be leaking that far back in the car though...

Thank you for any help. I guess I will get it booked into my local Porsche guy for this afternoon, but any info you can give would be much appreciated.

-James.

[jamesgood72]

Sorry, forgot to say, my car is a '99 C2. No mods, 36K miles. Brakes have always worked well (as does the ABS), but require a fair bit of force to get severe stopping power.

Here's a couple of pictures from a little road-trip into the Everglades on Monday, just because I like posting pictures of my car. :)

-James.

[demosan]

Hi,

I walked out to my car at work this morning, after having driven in 14 miles from home a few hours ago, and there was a puddle of a thin, oily fluid under the drivers side tail pipe. Looking closer, it appeared that there was the thin, yellowish oily fluid dripping from the underside of the tail pipe, not from out of the end of the pipe, but having dripped from above it. It appeared to be dripping from some body work above in the pipe, but I haven't been able to see exactly where from yet.

Oh dear.

Anyone got any ideas? I haven't started the car yet, but the brake pedal feels normal, the master brake level in the front of the car is around half full, and there is no fluid from anywhere else on the car. It doesn't appear to be clutch fluid (what does that look like?).

I find it strange that brake fluid would be leaking that far back in the car though...

Thank you for any help. I guess I will get it booked into my local Porsche guy for this afternoon, but any info you can give would be much appreciated.

-James.

James,

SOunds to me to be a leak from the coolant reservoir tank which is located on the passenger side in the engine compartent. DO a search and you will see it is a common problem and probably requires replacing the tank. How do you know the leak is brake fluid vs coolant?? Easy check for tank is to see if tank is low or have your garage pressure test the system and that will confirm coolant leak and location. demosan

[jamesgood72]

Thanks Demosan,

My coolant tank was replaced on my car, when it was new, maybe twice. But I will double check - should I see lots of coolant in the overflow tank? This fluid is quite oily, the coolant shouldn't be oily should it? I did feel under the reservoir tank filler area, and it didn't feel wet. But I couldn't get underneath the tank itself.

-James.

James,

SOunds to me to be a leak from the coolant reservoir tank which is located on the passenger side in the engine compartent. DO a search and you will see it is a common problem and probably requires replacing the tank. How do you know the leak is brake fluid vs coolant?? Easy check for tank is to see if tank is low or have your garage pressure test the system and that will confirm coolant leak and location. demosan

Edited December 13, 2007 by jamesgood72

[demosan]

Thanks Demosan,

My coolant tank was replaced on my car, when it was new, maybe twice. But I will double check - should I see lots of coolant in the overflow tank? This fluid is quite oily, the coolant shouldn't be oily should it? I did feel under the reservoir tank filler area, and it didn't feel wet. But I couldn't get underneath the tank itself.

-James.

James,

SOunds to me to be a leak from the coolant reservoir tank which is located on the passenger side in the engine compartent. DO a search and you will see it is a common problem and probably requires replacing the tank. How do you know the leak is brake fluid vs coolant?? Easy check for tank is to see if tank is low or have your garage pressure test the system and that will confirm coolant leak and location. demosan

James,

It should be easy to see in your coolant reservoir as to whether the coolant is low as a result of possible leaking. There is a "full mark" on your coolant tank for cold and hot. If you do have a leak in tank, it may be a small one if your tank has already been replaced recently, although there is no guarantee of this. Best indicator would be checking level in tank.

On the other hand, if the leak is brake fluid, then you should see an indicator light soon informing you blake fluid is low. Get the car checked ASAP as either leak could be problematic if it isn't diagnosed and repaired soon.

Demosan

[bhussung]

I would get to a mechanic asap. Your coolant should not be oily. If you shine a flashlight into the open reservoir, do you see any particulate matter, or foamy residue? You may have a leaky oil cooler, or worse...

brant

[der meister]

Hey James, yes it does sound more like coolant. Hope it's nothing serious.

Thanks for sharing the great pics, and cool rocket on your license plate, ha.

btw, what does your plate mean?

[jamesgood72]

Yes, thanks guys, the garage today told me it was almost definitely the coolant tank. Seems to be the third one on this car! I guess the glycol seemed oily to me, and that threw me off. Any ideas how much you would think it would be to replace that? I'll let you know when I hear from the guy. The good thing is, it explains why the car smelt hot when I stopped. I never noticed water leaking onto the ground before, but you could smell it. This explains that.

He's going to balance the tyres, change the oil, and replace my pollen filters too. I feel my Christmas bonus being spent already... :)

der meister : the plate doesn't mean anything, it's just a standard florida 'Challenger' plate. Thanks for the pics comments!

-James.

Hey James, yes it does sound more like coolant. Hope it's nothing serious.

Thanks for sharing the great pics, and cool rocket on your license plate, ha.

btw, what does your plate mean?

Edited December 14, 2007 by jamesgood72

[jamesgood72]

OK, so $760 is what they're charging me to replace the coolant tank. Does that sound reasonable? Sounds expensive to me, but I guess I have to get used to Porsche maintenance prices...

$140 to change the pollen filters, and $200 for the oil change. I elected to do the pollen filters myself.

-James.

[Loren]

Sunset Imports is selling the coolant tank for $176.81 - there is a DIY here on the site.

Porsche Parts at Dealer Cost

[jamesgood72]

Thanks, Loren.

Oh well, I paid for it all... We live and learn. I should have spent the weekend trying to do this. Still, he also replaced the oil separator hose, said that had collapsed.

Here it is, all installed :

Edited December 15, 2007 by jamesgood72

[Tecra]

Sorry, forgot to say, my car is a '99 C2. No mods, 36K miles. Brakes have always worked well (as does the ABS), but require a fair bit of force to get severe stopping power.

Here's a couple of pictures from a little road-trip into the Everglades on Monday, just because I like posting pictures of my car. :)

-James.

what up james

i like posted pictures of your car :D

couldn't have selected a better porsche color and awesome SHOTS! maybe you have larger size images you can pm me?