I opened up my trunk today and noticed a leak in the top right corner. Can anyone identify this? It's not in the car manual.

 

Did you check the small hydraulic system that keeps the front hood up?.

 

That's Pentosin being pushed up through your power steering reservoir. This means your clutch slave and/or accumulator is failing. Be careful - that stuff is really corrosive.

 

Thanks for the advice, I'll get this checked out ASAP. Are there any noticable conditions from this? ex. clutch feel

 

Depends how severe the leak is - main sign would be a very stiff clutch pedal when the car is off. Do a search on here - you'll find 100s of threads. A lot of guys go to the GT2 slave setup to avoid this in the future.

 

Don't forget to check your power steering reservoir level. The oil you are loosing come from the steering system....

 

I took a look at it today and saw that it was completely filled to the brim of the reservoir tank. I removed some of the Pentosin and I guess I'll keep my eye on the tank to see if it leaks in the next few days.

Maybe the service department just overfilled it and were lazy? The steering and clutch feel fine too btw.





before I drained the tank a bit, it was completely filled to the brim.

 

It's most likely that full because the Pentosin is being pushed back up thru the reservoir. Keep an eye on it but start planning the fix.

 

Does the power steering and clutch system share the same reservoir?

 

Put a wristband around it to sop up the fluid and get it fixed. Also It's coming from the power steering so you might need to add fluid back there. There is a bundle of wires right below and this is going to leak all over it. Brilliant German design at work.

Replacing slave and accumulator should cost around $1k parts and labor. GT2 conversion should be roughly double that amount.

 

Yes. The slave cylinder goes bad and allows high pressure fluid to flow the wrong way. The small reservoir at the front of the car gets full and the fluid comes out of the cap/vent hole. Fluid stain on top of the panel is a classic sign the cylinder is bad.

While driving around with a bad accumulator is not the end of the world, a bad slave cylinder is not a problem that should be ignored. My Turbo manifest the bad accum. signs and the tech said ok to drive the car. When a few weeks later I mentioned the fluid stain on the plastic he said time to bring the car in for accum/slave cylinder repairs.

The fluid is not the nicest stuff and if the power steering pump runs low on fluid you will feel some impact to your wallet that will have your *** numb for a long long time...

Get the car in and this fixed ASAP.

 

You can continue to drive the car for some time; you will just need to monitor the level. Check it regularly and drop it to 'low' if you do remove fluid. When mine was failing, I could go several weeks of daily use without having to drain some fluid.

A couple considerations:
When it does erupt, clean is a thoroughly as possible. Petosin is really tough on rubber in particular.
The fluid does come from somewhere - in this case the power steering reservoir in the back. Make sure this doesn't get too low. With that said, also don't over fill it as it gets hot and expands. Petosin is quite flammable and you don't want an eruption in the engine bay...

The killer is that the stock slave is remarkably expensive as it is assisted by the power steering pump. It is a complex design with a powerball thrown in to accommodate those with high heels - $600 in parts alone.

Be warned, however, as if you do the GT2 slave switch, the clutch will be significantly stiffer and, although I prefer the more direct action, it can make the car more difficult to sell.

Good luck,

 

JayAndreTT Did you notice any more noticeable leakage ?

 

I've been checking the reservoir after every drive, no leaking or anything so far. The pentosin hasn't rised a bit.