My Car Is Leaking, What Should I Do?

Cars aren’t supposed to leak. So if you walk up to your car and see a puddle under it or a trail of liquid behind it, you’re correct to be concerned.

Just like how your body is filled with liquids that help it work properly, your car also has all kinds of liquids moving through it so that it can run at its best. And just as your body might leak every once and a while, the same can happen to your car.

So when you say, “my car is leaking,” there are a variety of reasons for that. By identifying what the liquid is, you’ll have an easier time identifying and solving the problem.

Are you looking to learn more? If you are, then keep on reading, and we’ll take you through everything you’ll want to know!

Find the Source and Check the Color

Before you begin to freak out, you want to confirm that the leak is definitely coming from your car. If you find the leak while in a parking spot, there’s a chance that the puddle is from the car that was there before you.

Grab a flashlight, get down on your knees, and take a peek under your vehicle.

If the liquid is coming from your car, then you’ll have to figure out what colour the fluid is. The best way to do this is to slide a piece of plywood or white cardboard under the car and let the liquid drip onto it.

Capturing the liquid this way will help you in two ways. First, you’ll get to see what the colour is. Second, you’ll have a general idea of where the leak is coming from.

Without moving the cardboard, pay attention to where the liquid is hitting the board. Turn your head and look up from that point at the bottom of your car. You want to see exactly where the leak is happening.

After you have a good view of where the leak is occurring, remove the cardboard and check the colour.

Six Most Common Fluids to Leak from a Car

The six fluids most likely to drip from your car are water, transmission fluid, gear oil or differential fluid, motor oil, coolant, and power-steering fluid.

We didn’t include brake fluid on this list because it’s actually not very common for brake fluid to leave a puddle under a car.

However, if the brake fluid is leaking out, then that can be a serious problem. To quickly go over it, brake fluid is clear to amber in colour, and it smells like fish oil.

1. Water Leaking From Your Car

The most common causes for why fluid is leaking out of your car are humidity, heat, and haze. Your car’s air conditioner needs to do something with the moisture that it removes from the air that’s inside of the passenger compartment.

Your air conditioner drains the water onto the ground under the car via a rubber hose.

If it’s a very humid day, the water will pour out of the AC drain and onto the ground as if it were coming from a faucet. It will do this until the cabin humidity is almost gone.

In this case, the leak is essentially supposed to happen.

The rubber hose is typically in the middle or at the front right of the car. If you have a large SUV or a newer minivan that comes with rear and front climate control, then you might have two air conditioner drains and two evaporators—one in the rear and one in the front.

When you use your car’s air conditioner, it’s a good idea to keep the recirculation function instead of using the “fresh air” function. If you leave a car in “fresh air” mode, then it will continue to drag humid air into the car.

And if the weather is really humid outside, the air will turn into a fog as it pours into your cabin.

2. Oil Leaks

Motor oil can vary in colour from dark brown to light amber. If there’s an oil leak, then it’s likely going to be under the engine.

After you figure out if the oil is dripping from the engine, all you need to do is pinpoint the leak. It’s a good idea to go to a mechanic and have them take a look, so you don’t end up messing with your engine while trying to find the source of the leak.

If you know that your motor oil is leaking, then you should be checking the dipstick often. Don’t drive a car that’s low on oil because it can overheat and damage itself.

If you have a major oil leak, then you shouldn’t drive your vehicle at all.

3. Antifreeze or Coolant Leaks

Coolant comes in a variety of colours these days. It used to be green mainly. However, now the colour depends on the manufacturer of the coolant or the car. For example, Toyota uses red, Mercedes uses clear, and Honda has a blue coolant.

Coolant has a sweet smell.

If your car is leaking a lot of coolants, then don’t drive it. Your car can end up overheating, and the engine will be ruined. Keep an eye on the temperature gauge, although it’s best just to tow it to your mechanic so it can be fixed.

4. Transmission Fluid Leaks

Automatic transmissions use pink or red fluid. And they use a lot of it. Most of the time, the first sign of an automatic transmission leak is that the car will rev without going into gear.

If the leak continues, your car eventually won’t be able to move at all.

Automatic transmissions use fluids that are specially designed by the manufacturer. If you don’t use the proper automatic transmission fluid for your specific vehicle, you’ll compromise the shift quality. You’ll also void the warranty.

Manual transmissions use gear oil.

On an FWD car, you’ll usually find a transmission fluid leak under the axle seals. If it’s RWD, the leak will be under the output shaft seal. If you see pink or red liquid under your vehicle, pull out the transmission dipstick and check your transmission fluid level.

5. Gear Oil or Differential Fluid Leaks

Gear fluid, gear oil, differential fluid – no matter what you call it, it’s a very thick fluid that looks like honey. Gear oil is dark amber or dark brown.

If your car’s rear differential is leaking, or your standard transmission has a leak, you’ll find gear oil dripping. Gear oil can also leak from the rear axle seals or the wheel bearing seals.

Sometimes, you’ll see oil being thrown from the center of the wheel all over the wheel rim of your car. Dust will collect on the wheel and turn black.

If your car is FWD, then gear oil can also leak from the front axle.

6. Power Steering Fluid Leaks

It isn’t easy to describe power steering fluid because some manufacturers use their own power steering fluid while others use transmission fluid. Power steering fluid can have a pungent smell, kind of like burnt cooking oil.

If you believe that you might have a power steering fluid leak, you should first look at the reservoir. The reservoir is going to have low and high markings. So it should be easy for you to see whether the fluid level is low.

Another sign that fluid is low is that the steering wheel feels tight when you’re turning in a parking lot or at slow speeds. You also might be low on fluid if the power steering pump whines when you try to turn the steering wheel.

Power steering fluid tends to leak on each end of the steering rack. The steering rack has ended on both sides of the steering rack. They’re the first to start leaking because they go through the most wear and tear.

My Car Is Leaking – Know What to Do

Are you worried about what to do if you find yourself saying, “my car is leaking”? Hopefully, after reading the above article, you now have a better idea of how to handle a situation where your vehicle is leaking fluids.

Because a fluid leak can be a serious issue, it’s always a good idea to have a professional and experienced mechanic check it out. If you’re concerned or curious about your car, bring it to Viking Motors today and see how we can help you!