Pink fluid dripping from the engine bay

scotisha · Post by **scotisha** » Mon Feb 12, 2007 1:26 pm

So I was taking off the electric oil pan heater this morning when I noticed pink fluid dripping from the skid plate. I am not very car literate so I am going to need some help to figure what it is and what i should do.

When you are looking at the engine bay from the front of the car the leak is from a the left side of the bay. I am going to look again at lunch to see exactly where the drip is comming from (It was dark this morning).

I was doing some reading and it is either tranny fluid, power steering fluid, or coolant.

Please help me diagnose and fix this problem before it becomes a PROBLEM!

Thanks in advance...

brianp · Post by **brianp** » Mon Feb 12, 2007 2:02 pm

only if it is an automatic will the transmission fluid be red. Otherwise, it's just a heavy oil.

Maybe check your power steering and the others to see their color?

oh, and transmission and p/s fluids are more of a oilish consistancy, where coolant is more like water.

scotisha · Post by **scotisha** » Mon Feb 12, 2007 2:30 pm

Thanks brianp

It is a standard so that rules out the transmission (whew

). I will have a look at the power steering levels at lunch. It is a bright clear pink so I guess it is the coolant. How do I go about checking that?

Thanks

Post by **ARCHINSTL** » Mon Feb 12, 2007 2:45 pm

Do you mean the skid plate at the back of the transmission, or the plastic undertray between the radiator and the engine?
Not to be disingenuous, but the steering rack, if leaking/squirting, should be moist/wet around the rack hoses/tubes. Someone (Typrus?) did a write-uo on flushing/bleeding the rack.
If you look inside the radiator cap you should see the color of that fluid. You might try tightening all clamps as a first (and hopefully, only) step. I had a leak at the upper hose clamp which was tiny, but kept dripping on the lower hose, causing me to think it was that hose.
Tom M.

keith · Post by **keith** » Mon Feb 12, 2007 5:58 pm

Could be the front seal of the power steering pump, or one of the hoses.

Mickey_D · Post by **Mickey_D** » Tue Feb 13, 2007 1:33 am

This is going to sound like a silly one, but if it's a manual transmission, the only pink fluid I can think of is windshield washer fluid.

My power steering fluid is a yellowish oil, not like anything I've ever seen before.

Check to see what color washer fluid is in the reservoir. I'd be willing to bet it's pink.

scotisha · Post by **scotisha** » Tue Feb 13, 2007 8:22 am

My washer fluid is a murky colour now (pink+blue+green=blech).

I looked at the rad fluid and it is pink (thanks ARCHINSTL) and there is a tiny pool of pink fluid under the rad. I am going to wait until I get the car into a garage to warm up before I start to wiggle and tignten hoses.

Thanks all!