before the truck goes into the shop monday

[tybardy]

:mad2:

I backed my car out of the driveway to wash my girlfriends nali only to find red oil on the ground. As it stands right now i cannot figure out if it is power steering fluid or tranny fluid as both are reading "full"

I hop underneath and it is for sure leaking from the front somewhere and at the moment it is all over the place (clearly been leaking for about a week or so now)

needless to say i am upset... but does anyone have any ideas as to what this is and where it might be leaking from?

:confused2:

 

[Sepiroth]

Power steering pump, power steering line, steering gearbox, tranny line, or radiator.

 

[mikeb33]

PS fluid isn't usually red. Antifreeze sometimes is though.

 

[tybardy]

PS fluid isn't usually red. Antifreeze sometimes is though.

dude, i feel sorry for you man... tomorrow, go check both your tranny and power steering... possibly your power breaks too

 

[Jsho13]

PS fluid isn't usually red. Antifreeze sometimes is though.

Yeah don't rule out coolant. A lot of GM vehicles use that red stuff (can't think of the name). My grand prix did, not sure if yukes and hos do.

 

[mikeb33]

dude, i feel sorry for you man... tomorrow, go check both your tranny and power steering... possibly your power breaks too

Uh... excuse me? The guy who can't find his leak, asked us for help and is taking his truck to someone else is going to criticize me for offering advice?

I did just check my fluids:
Trans fluid- red
Motor oil- brown
P/S fluid clearish/brown
Brake fluid-clear
Antifreeze-red

 

[tybardy]

Uh... excuse me? The guy who can't find his leak, asked us for help and is taking his truck to someone else is going to criticize me for offering advice?

I did just check my fluids:
Trans fluid- red
Motor oil- brown
P/S fluid clearish/brown
Brake fluid-clear
Antifreeze-red

:lol: that sh!t is kinda funny

Why wouldnt i take it to someone else to fix... my truck has a warrantee, its why i paid for the warrantee, so that it can get sh!t fixed right without me wasting my weekend doing so… anyways dude, my bad. But seriously, Tranny Fluid is Red, I have never seen Tranny fluid that isn’t red… And to my knowledge, all power steering fluid is red as well, but if its not ALL red; mine is. HOWEVER, my coolant is also red but the sh!t on my driveway was oily and the only way I could see the coolant being oily is if it picked up some oil residue on the way down the block.

So to yee who speaks about thinking before opening his mouth, we can enjoy that nice big cup together

 

[Blizzardx23]

I've seen nothing but green coolant out here in Iraq for the last 12 months...then again, its all we run in our HMMWV (Humvees) and other military vehicles...


Cherry Juice.... = Automatic Hydraulic Fluid ....good for - Power Steering, Trans fluid
Break Fluid = Clearish or recently...we've been using purple

...just taste it, if it tastes sweet...its coolant lol

 

[mikeb33]

OK I don't want to get into a stupid online fight, but I do enjoy a good debate.
Lets look at a few points:
1)Your original post stated "it is for sure leaking from the front somewhere and at the moment it is all over the place" and "does anyone have any ideas as to what this is and where it might be leaking from?" Pretty vague and if you can't tell buy looking at it, provide pictures or a better description, how could we do better?

2)I tried to help by suggesting "P/S fluid isn't usually red. Antifreeze sometimes is though" While ATF could be used in a pinch for P/S, GM has never had red P/S fluid. I also added that antifreeze can be red and appear like ATF.

3)For some reason you say: "dude, i feel sorry for you man... tomorrow, go check both your tranny and power steering... possibly your power breaks too Why do you feel sorry for me? Am I too stupid to try to help? I made 2 very logical points.

4)You are taking it to a mechanic because it is under warranty. Fine, but you did not state that before and the truck is 5 years old so it is not like it is obvious. And if it is being taken care of, why come here asking for help when you are not going to anything about it yourself anyway?

So did you hear what s wrong yet?

 

[Rivieraracing]

No picture + vague description of what you are seeing of what is wrong with your truck = People offering up suggestions for you to figure out your problem!!! I would have offered up my .02 about your problem initially, but after the " Dude, I feel sorry for ya man" comment I wasn't going to, didn't want you to have an opportunity to stick your foot in your mouth a second time in such a short bit of time (might not have had time to take the first foot out):lol:

Just to support Mikeb33, I had a buddy that saw red fluid underneath his dodge pickup a while back, started to freak out that is was maybe tranny fluid or something worse but couldn't see where it was leaking from, ended up being coolant from a hose out of his engine block, one half turn later on the clamp and all was good.

Most replacement PS fluid I have seen is usually clear/tan fluid out of the bottle, but I have seen some red put out by some brands.
Just remember man, you posted on a forum, you asked a question and people offered up their advise, if you don't like the advise, either keep it to yourself or go somewhere else, they have taken time out of their day to respond and offer advise in your benefit, just like I have just done!!

Have a great day man, good luck with your truck and keep us posted!!:thumbsup:

 

[tybardy]

OK I don't want to get into a stupid online fight, but I do enjoy a good debate.
Lets look at a few points:
1)Your original post stated "it is for sure leaking from the front somewhere and at the moment it is all over the place" and "does anyone have any ideas as to what this is and where it might be leaking from?" Pretty vague and if you can't tell buy looking at it, provide pictures or a better description, how could we do better?

2)I tried to help by suggesting "P/S fluid isn't usually red. Antifreeze sometimes is though" While ATF could be used in a pinch for P/S, GM has never had red P/S fluid. I also added that antifreeze can be red and appear like ATF.

3)For some reason you say: "dude, i feel sorry for you man... tomorrow, go check both your tranny and power steering... possibly your power breaks too Why do you feel sorry for me? Am I too stupid to try to help? I made 2 very logical points.

4)You are taking it to a mechanic because it is under warranty. Fine, but you did not state that before and the truck is 5 years old so it is not like it is obvious. And if it is being taken care of, why come here asking for help when you are not going to anything about it yourself anyway?

So did you hear what s wrong yet?

Oh man, i feel like even more of a douche, when you said PS fluid isnt usueally red... i read it wrong - like - Post Script... not Power Steering.. im a moe and thought you were saying that fluids in general arent useually red

anyways, your right, PS fluid is more of a brown color but for sure red enough to match the crap on my pavement.

the best i can figure is that it is my water pump going out (thats my best and most logical guess), this being my first experience with DexCool, i didnt realize how greasy that stuff is. Its still sitting in my driveway. waiting for an "inspector" to come and look at it. This is what happens when you buy a chevy from a dodge dealer and buy the mopar warrantee, before i can take it to a goodwrench i have to have a mopar inspector come and make sure it is legit before my warrantee will clear goodwrench to do the work! GGGAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYY

oh and the reason i was posting the question on here, curious if anyone has run into a similar situation.. my first reaction when i saw the fluid was "tranny" but it was leaking from up front so it limits the ammount of places it could be leaking from as it is nearly imposible to find the location of the leak

 

[Rollin Thunder]

my truck has a warrenty. But I still ask. WHY? cause dealers and especally their repair men are STUPID!!!! Sometimes you need to comferm what they are saying. Is it lajit. OR BS. What if they didnt fix the problem Right. Do you guys have suggestions for them to look at. Stuff like that. Thats why we have this forum. :thumbsup:

 

[tybardy]

i am useing this opportunity to have them fix my guage cluster and take a look at my 4wd as i think there is a problem with my front diff... i only have to pay the $100 deductable once to fix it all...

 

[Rivieraracing]

I would try to park your truck under a piece of cardboard and see if there are drips on it, that way you know it wasn't an old leak and you will know pretty much where it is leaking from. If it is kinda dirty and oily where you think it might be leaking from, wipe it clean and dry and check back later. Get yourself a bright light under the area as well, and look all around in all directions. That's what it took to find my buddy's coolant leak, it was in the depths of his engine compartment, underneath all sorts of junk, coming out of the engine block. Actually got lucky to find it, it was all in the flashlight angle, he was about to take it in under warranty, instead of a day or two without the truck it took 10 minutes and some scratched up hands tightening the clamp with a screw driver.

 

[road1will]

my truck has a warrenty. But I still ask. WHY? cause dealers and especally their repair men are STUPID!!!! Sometimes you need to comferm what they are saying. Is it lajit. OR BS. What if they didnt fix the problem Right. Do you guys have suggestions for them to look at. Stuff like that. Thats why we have this forum. :thumbsup:

Every tech at my dealer is smarter than 90% of the people I know and went to college with.

 

[Sepiroth]

Every tech at my dealer is smarter than 90% of the people I know and went to college with.

Well, how smart were the people you went to college with? lol, ok bad joke.

 

[Rollin Thunder]

Every tech at my dealer is smarter than 90% of the people I know and went to college with.

Smarter all around (like with math, science, history, etc) or just with cars???

 

[oneradride]

Oh yes everyone at the dealership is a genius… Plaza Pontiac, GMC Omaha, NE.

While looking at a used formula at the GMC dealership I was approached by a salesman, on his suit jacket he wore a pin that said ‘6 years service’ or something like that. We bs’ed a little about the car and he looked over at the Yukon and said… WOW, when did they start making an SS? I replied… never….

 

[Rollin Thunder]

how about this. Was out of town on business down in SC, went to the dealer there to get an oil change done, Had one of my free coupons from gm for oil changes at any dealer (even said it on the coupon book) Went in at my scheduled time (10:30) he said great here is your loaner car should take us 2 hours since yours is just an oil change and we have other cars, i said fine. My loaner was a Pontiac G6, nice car, just kinda small. Anyway, FOUR HOURS LATER. They call and said, its all ready but just to let you know your coupons dont work for the heavy duty yukons with 6.0's. I SAID ITS A 1500 WITH A 5.3 NOT THE 2500!!! He said sir, I dont mean to correct a customer but you have the 6.0. SO I told him I would be right down then. Hung up the phone. got there and said lets test you. 1st. How many lug nuts do the tires have. He looked and said the same number the heavy duty ones have, I said HOW MANY!!!!! He said sir your being rediculous. I said fine, failed, Open the hood, look at the engine ID sticker, what does it say. He said the heavy duty engine, I said no it does not it says 5.3. He said you must have gotten one of the early ones when the 6.0s were not being made yet. I SAID THE 6.0 HAS BEEN IN PRODUCTION SINCE 2000. HE said fine I have better things to do just give me the coupon. So i did and left. But I still think he thinks mine is a 2500.

 

[Tahoe7689]

I had a similar leak, but my coolant is orange (dexcool). It was the water pump, and the leak was coming from the front too, but it was hard to tell exactly where because it was dripping on other parts and hoses. I took to the dealer and had to have the water pump replaced.