Oil Leaks

I've just found a couple of puddles of bright green oil on the garage floor under the front of my Nav. It is dripping from the left side tow point but I cannot find anywhere above that it is coming from. At first I thought it was coolant but on checking the radiator I find there is no colour in the water (something else to check on) and the level is OK. I have checked all my oil levels, brakes, clutch, power steering and none are down. My aircon has copped a hiding this week but I don't think any oil leaks from that.
Any suggestions what I may look for?

Paul

Hi Paul,

Bright green is usually coolant, but if not that, then maybe check the power steering pump.

The brake fluid is clear in my Nav, so probably not brake/clutch fluid.

Sorry I can't be of more use.

Cheers and good luck,

DJ

Got a sick pet, cat or dog...........? Green pee.........? ha ha thats all I can think of sorry apart from the obvious coolant.

It's got to be one of two things:

1) Most common - radiator coolant. Touch it, rub it between your fingers then wash it off. If it feels really slippery, it's coolant.

2) Leak detection dye from the air conditioning system. It won't feel slippery. This usually means your air conditioner lines are damaged, take the car to an air conditioning mechanic. The system needs to be repaired and regassed.

Hope that helps!

Just for info: most fluids are different colours so that you *can* tell where they're coming from. Auto transmission fluid doesn't come out of the ground in reds!

have to agree with Old Tony on this one...........it sounds like your air con.

well if its on the left side my $$ is on engine coolant. most liky someone overfilled the water bottle and its blown some out.

i would check for bubbles in the tank just in case.

I'd back engine coolant as well.

Thanks for all that, guys. I don't think it is the coolant, although that was my first thought. I checked the coolant in the bottle and the radiator and it has no colour at all. A job tomorrow is to drain some of it just to check whether there is coolant in it or just plain water. I wondered about the air con but I just thought that it contained gas. Is there any reason that it would contain an oily dye? It has not been regassed or even serviced since new, two and a half years ago.
Well I'll put it up on ramps tomorrow and dig a little deeper.

Matt - VNET Pro said:

Got a sick pet, cat or dog...........? Green pee.........? ha ha thats all I can think of sorry apart from the obvious coolant.

Click to expand...

Thanks Mat but no pets. They stop me from going away whenever I feel inclined. Like the end of next week, three weeks to drive down the NSW coast to Sydney stopping at all the places we just race by on our usual forays to see the relos then back home for Christmas.
Paul

From what I can gather, Nissan apparently use leak detection dye from factory, and have done so (in at least some models) since June 1999.

It reacts to UV light. If you don't feel like touching the liquid with your hands, grab a UV lamp and shine it on the dye. It should glow brilliantly if it's the dye (although the touch-test works too - just remember to wash your hands quickly afterwards).

i say the a/c gas for sure.. mine done it while out at landcruiser park, there is a hardline from the front diff breather that crosses over your aircon line, mine wore through the line and i had the same green dye dripping from the front of the nav..

cheers mark.

Sorry to be so long getting back about this. The bright green liquid was coolant. While thinking it was air con liquid I decided not to worry about it until I returned fom Sydney. Towed my van from Gold Coast to Sydney and back over 4 weeks even dragging it up the hill from Gloucester to Uralla. I kept an eye on the water level all the way just in case and did not use the air con. No problems.

A few days after getting home there was the green liquid on the floor again and now the car started overheating. I finally spotted a fine spray from the gas evaperator which was replaced by Dgas under warranty (after a week waiting for part). During this time I just took the pipes off the evaperator and joined them, using the truck without gas.