Well, it's my turn to ask for technical advice. I suppose if you own one of these for long enough, your turn comes. Can you believe this car is over 10 years old? I'm a hair under 30K miles, and was planning on taking the wife to Vegas this weekend & celebrate the 30K milestone. I'm thankful for our Forum, and appreciate any advice or input you may have.

I took my 9 to get an oil change & brake fluid flush before the long drive. Unfortunately I didn't put many miles on over the past 12 months, but I had the oil change done since its been over a year since my last. Mine is the one on the lift, with the wheels I'm partial to.



Pick it up, admire the other exotics, including a rare (275 made) Jaguar XJ220....very long, very fast, and 90's styling Jaguar XJ220. Hopefully in 10 years my DB9 won't look as dated.





15 miles from the shop to my office, no problem.
6 hours in the parking lot.
25 miles on the way home, no problem.
1 freeway exit from home, the "Low engine coolant" or equivalent red light warning & message appear. I ease up, check temperature, and drive conservatively.

Heading up the offramp, things feel weird. The engine coolant warning is vacillating between showing & disappearing, but the engine revs with not much power response.

I limp home at low speeds (pushing the gas results in higher revs, but no more power).

Engine temp slightly above halfway where it normally sits, but not by much.
I live up a hill, and this last 1/4 mile is rough.

It doesn't make it up my driveway, and won't shift (automatic trans) to park.
This warning pops up when I press the "P" button:



I turn off the car, get out, and smell a slight burning smell, and a little smoke, but not much. I look behind the car and see this:



Under the car, it's everywhere. Probably just a quart, but dripping from everywhere. I have no idea how much leaked out over the course of the day, but problems appeared suddenly & not beforehand. Here's what the color is:



An hour later, the leak has subsided, with the dipstick reading full.

I'm smart & handy, have a jack & holders, but have no auto training. Is this as simple as me tightening the oilpan bolt, making sure the filter is secure and re-setting everything with a battery disconnect, or do I put it on a flatbad and send it back to the mechanic....or option 3 I'm not thinking of?

If I do send back to the mechanic, is there anything specific I should make sure to ask them to do, other than fix the leak and clean everything up? Any damage I should be worried about?

Thank you in advance for any know-how & input you may have!

 

I'm going to take a educated guess here and say that you probably lost your transmission fluid. Has your car ever had the transmission cooler lines repaired or fixed? The transmission cooler lines were a common issue with early DB9's and most showed symptoms of leaking well before there was catastrophic failure. Did the person who serviced the car say anything about leaking fluids? The common leak point is at the very front of the car near the transmission cooler. There is also another leak point near the oil pan but you have to remove the skid plate to see it. I'm sure once the skid plate is off it will be very obvious what is leaking judging by the amount of fluid you soaked up.

I always tell my wife that if any type of warning lights come on pull over, turn the car off, and call me immediately. I learned early on that "limping" a car home can be a risky and very costly proposition. A $100 tow is usually money well spent in these cases. Hopefully the Aston gods have mercy on you!

Beautifully XJ220! In my opinion its still one of the most beautiful exotics ever created!

 

I just wanted to clarify. The reason why I say its the transmission fluid is because you couldn't make it up the hill in your driveway. When the transmission loses fluid it cannot provide the hydraulic pressure needed to move the car forward. Was the transmission slipping on your way home at all? Usually, this problem will gets worse as more fluid is lost.

 

Skimming through things quickly so apologies if you've already covered this...

If you aren't sure if it's gear oil or not, just do a sniff test. Gear oil smells HORRIBLE, you'll be able to smell it easily. Engine oil doesn't really smell much.

Slightly related: burning coolant smells like pancakes with maple syrup mmmmmm

 

Car was giving warnings.

Like the other poster said you might be able to tell the difference in the fluid types.

I would not drive the car. I would try to find someone to help you see where the leak is from and if possible take pictures.


Also keep in mind that this happened after a service. Could it be that they left a fill or drain cap loose? If so or something else done during the service cause this then you may have to prove their actions led to this.

 

2 different faults, low coolant could just be the sensor/reservoir fault. You definitely split a transmission cooler hose causing the no movent no shift condition. Tow it back to the fabulous place that just changed fluids. Luckily you weren't 1/2 to Vegas.

 

mfrankel, what exactly was replaced.. Just the engine oil and filter + brake fluid flush.. Or did you opt for a service?

It does seem like 2 different faults.. If the shop flushed the coolant as well, seems like the level is just slightly low, system wasn't bled correctly in that case.. Open the coolant reservoir when cold and see how low the tank is..

As for the leak, can you see any leaks in the front underneath..or is everything mainly concentrated in the rear of the car..be advised a leak in front will spray to the back.. If you have ramps or a lift, makes this check a breeze

 

Love our forum...thank you all.

Just an oil change & brake fluid flush....that's it.

The car is on my driveway, so the thought was to pull it into the garage to check fluid levels & raise the car up to see where the mess is coming from since Irish mentioned this may be easy.

FYI, The fluid doesn't have an overt smell, but up close smells chemically...like an auto parts store....if that makes any sense.

Car starts just fine, but won't get out of park. No Reverse, no Drive, no Neutral....all with messages telling me that the gear is not available. So, I don't know enough to lift it on a slope safely (if that's even possible), so punting & going to call a tow.

If I can get it back to the shop, it'll be interesting to see if this was just a random hose split that coincided with a service, or independent & just a coincidence. Hopefully someone just knocked a hose loose....but the symptoms certainly could coincide with a blown hose somewhere.

My immediate problem: The car won't move...and I can't get it to neutral so it can roll back down the driveway to get to the flatbed tow.

Using all of my financial planning prowess, (and your input), this is looking like a transmission issue more than just an engine oil leak from a loose drain plug or oil filter. Can I just go dump in some Pep Boys transmission fluid to see if I can give it enough pressure to change gears into neutral?...wishing I had a 6 speed! Right now it's the prettiest paperweight I've ever seen. Any tips on how to get it to change into Neutral?

 

Oh, JW.....you're so right! This happening in the desert on the way to Vegas would have changed the mood of the trip entirely.

 

Don't start the car or try to get it into neutral anymore!!! You are doing more harm than good, since there is a good change the transmission is dry with fluid (burn it up). Under the driver side back seat there should be a manual neutral handle. If you pull it, the car should be forced into neutral. If the car is on any type of incline be sure to block the wheels so it doesn't roll on you.

If you have never changed the coolant, its normal to lose a little over that long of a time period. Just add a little distilled water to bring it back to the normal level. However, you are definitely past due for a coolant change though if it hasn't been changed. Check out my DB9 coolant change DYI on this forum if you feel ambitious to do it yourself. It's pretty straight forward if you have the right tools and some knowledge of working on cars.

 

Like the above post, you can just pull the neutral level under the drivers rear lower Velcro secured seat cushion(for DB9)..incase you've never done this before, it's explained in the user guide on how to select neutral for towing and recovery

The trans fluid is for ZF in an Aston bottle..it actually smells like cat ****, it's a horrible smell. To fill or check the fluid, there is no dip stick to check or fill from, there's a plug bolt on the side of the trans that is used to determine fluid level and used as the fill port

 

You can also use ZF Lifeguard 6 transmission fluid in our cars (DB9) its the same stuff as OEM without the pricey Aston Martin surcharge.

 

Maybe you should have it towed to a Aston dealer, they should have the parts in stock maybe even have it ready for a weekend drive.

 

The Neutral Lever worked as advertised....got it on to a tow!....and back to the Indy shop in case it is something caused by the recent maintenance...if they own up to it.

Gonna rent a Ford Fusion for my weekend Vegas trip & pretend.

Also gr8 info on the cat **** transmission fluid.

Will keep you posted....please keep your fingers crossed for me.

 

can you update?
what was the problem, solution and cost?