Hello All,

A few weeks ago, after parking the vette, I noticed a steady drip coming from under the car.  Front middle area almost looking like a bit on the passenger side.  Not entirely sure about passenger side because liquid will take the path of least resistance.  Anyway, the fluid was clear and felt almost like mineral oil...a little greasy/oily feeling.  Didn't have a smell at all.  Washed right off my hands with no residue.  AC was not running (don't think I have ever even tried turning it on) so it was not condensation.  Came out the next day before heading off to work, and A LOT of this fluid had fallen.  Any idea what this fluid is and where it might be coming from?

Thanks in advance,

Jason

It could still be from the A/C. It could be refrigerant oil. You may have gotten a leak in the evaporator. Thank a look and see if is coming out of the A/C drain.

Thank you, Kstyer.  I will check the A/C plug.




|UPDATED|8/15/2015 7:14:33 PM (AZT)|/UPDATED|

I'm a little confused as to WHERE this drip is. Front by the nose of the car, middle towards the firewall area....or front center....where?
A clear liquid could be an oil, or brake fluid. A steady drip as you described should show as a low fluid level somewhere. Check your brake fluid, coolant, and engine oil levels. Could be fuel leak, too. A leak in the evaporator should show up on the passenger side firewall area, just behind the front tire.

Adam's - it seems like the drip is coming from the center of the engine compartment more towards the nose, and a little towards passenger side. If looking at the car from front, I would say the drip is about 2' or so from the nose and ever so slightly to the left. Definitely not behind front wheel towards fire wall. Didn't have a gas smell...no smell actually. Made me think of mineral oil because of color and consistency. And I lost a lot. Made a small river from under the car to a low spot in my garage. Weirdest thing. Have been afraid to start her since. I took a video of it but I cannot upload vid here. I read somewhere this could be an indication of a cracked block? My heart stopped after reading that one. I checked fluid in master cylinder and it is full. Will get to coolant and oil this afternoon. I would think coolant would be greenish, which this was not. Unfortunately lately I have been left with only a few hours 1 day a week to work on her. Thank you!

Jason, if you have a youtube account, upload the vid to youtube, and post a link here. Not going to be a cracked block...put your fears to rest on that. If you have colored coolant(green, red, whatever), then it would be that color. Assuming you DO have antifreeze in it, that is.
From the area you described, it could still be a fuel leak....the fuel pump is right in that general area.

Thanks for putting my fears to rest about the cracked block!!  

Update: Got under the hood today.  Checked oil and it could use a little bit, but not much at all.  Checked the coolant, and it was definitely low...I had to add just about a half a bottle of coolant.  I use 50/50 no water, so I agree with you that it would have been green in color.  the low coolant could be from when I replaced lower rad hose and it wasn't tight enough.  Lost a bit during that "getting it just right" process.  Guess it was a little more than I thought.

Here's the kicker...after filling the radiator and recapping, while the car was running, I noticed a pretty bad leak coming from the radiator neck over flow hose (the one that goes from radiator neck to the plastic overflow tank).  Hose was split about 1/2" at the neck.  Left a nice sized puddle under the car.  Replaced the hose and now no leaks.  Problem is, I was on a darker more porous cement than my garage floor so it was REALLY hard to tell the color. 

The puddle that was left was right by passenger front tire and a little behind it.  I want to believe I fixed the mystery leak, but the puddle location tells me otherwise. 

If it is a fuel leak, wouldn't I smell a strong fuel smell on my hands and in the vicinity?  I had the fuel pump replaced a year ago when I bought her.

Thank you!

Jason

Your first description threw me off. Coolant can travel quite a ways as it leaks and travels across surfaces and brackets. Yes fuel should have a strong smell, but depending on conditions you may not pick it up. You may top all fluids, fix the split hose, and just let the car run while keeping a close eye on everything and see what you can see. Be sure to have plenty of light.

Sorry about that.  Tried to be as descriptive as I could.  I also checked those two AC valves (black twist knobs) and although one was a little loose, the area seemed bone dry.  I will try running her for a while and keep an eye under there. 

In the meantime, I did as Adams' suggested and uploaded the video of the drip.  Don't know if it will help but you never know.  Link is below...

https://goo.gl/photos/6jabbFFBUaQn45RCA

power steering fluid?? its usually clear and kinda viscous...??