I just noticed a small mark on my driveway the last couple of days coming from in front of the front, driver-side wheel. It's orange. A picture is attached. Anyone have any thoughts? The only thing that makes sense to me, since it's a rear-engine car, is brake fluid. Maybe this is something I can handle myself?

 

I guess it could also be the master/slave clutch circuit. That reservoir is not filled to the limit line after running the car for a few seconds. It's maybe 1/8 to 1/4 an inch from the limit line.

 

Coolant from the radiators.

 

Bent Johnson rod?

 

Ahem, I assure you my johnson is not bent. Besides, I drive a car, not a train. =p

Radiators is a possibility, I guess. If I had a jack I could take the wheel off and remove the fender liner to look, I suppose.

 

+1 on that. Clutch/slave unit fluid is green Pentosin. And it is on the firewall, so the fluid comes out behind the driver's side front wheel.

Leaking at the base of the radiator is a common problem in these cars. If you're lucky, it's a hose coupling. Otherwise, it's a solder seam in the radiator and it needs to be replaced.

Don't wait to get it looked into.

 

Thanks. I guess the next step is to jack up the car, remove the front fender liner, and check the hose / coupling. Hopefully it's not the radiator itself, although one radiator wouldn't be too much to replace.

Good to know about where the leak would likely appear if it was the clutch.

 

I'll third that... Don't wait to get it checked and make sure they use the correct coolant when fixing it.

Mike

 

What is the correct coolant, mine popped today too...

 

Take off the front bumper/fender liners and you will see which rad it is. I just had this happen a few months ago and replaced the drivers side rad. Call up Sunset for the best price on a new rad. Not too hard to install. The only px is bleeding the system of air, you need a Snap-on Radkitplus kit or similar.

 

Could be the strut.

 

Cross-reference to RennTech:

http://www.renntech.org/forums/index...owtopic=22444&

Going to have to learn how to take off the bumper I guess.

 

Put some pressure on the left rad and, while it didn't leak, there was some residue around the top plastic part. The hose did not appear to have leaked. I haven't seen coolant drip since I posted that picture, so perhaps this is just a rarity when the rad gets extremely hot from long or hard drives. I'll keep an eye on the temperature gauge and replace with a new one when something a little more problematic happens than a few silver dollars' worth of coolant on the ground.

 

Hmmm... so you are waiting for a catastrophic failure to do something about this? That seems, um, unwise to me.

Jon

 

probably the lower coolant hose of the driver side radiator....I've heard they are prone to leaking...

pull off your wheel and remove the fender liner you should be able to identify the source.