Two leaks

I have a 2001 TD4 and last week I noticed some gunge leaking from the small hook shaped pipe at the back of the engine next to the small plastic cup (sorry but I am a complete engine novice) . It was a sort of very light greeny/cream colour and was dripping onto the base tray and then onto my drive. The leak only occured whilst and after the car had been driven. There were no obvious signs of perfomance loss etc and for some reason the leak has now stopped but I am stumped as to what this could have been and how to prevent it happening again. To compound my misery I have also noticed a very slow drip from the tow hook at the front of the car. It is of a watery/oily mixture.

I would appreciate any ideas as to what these leaks could be?

sounds like a coolant leak and yer best find where its coming from quick.. top up yer coolant level and start the thing, then have a good look fer leaks around the top of the engine as far down as you can see.. if yer dint see it you would be best orf taking it to a garage that can pressure test the fooker.. might be nothing more serious than a heater hose or it could be expensive

Get the belly pan off and you can then take a good look around the bottom of the engine and search for any problems.

but thur int much water down the bottom of a injun.
all of the 'work ' occurs at the top end in the combustion chamber so thats is where the water is, to drawn the excess heat away.. all engines i have seen the bottom hose exits above the crankshaft. so unless the gaylander is greatly different to ever other engine i don't see any benefit to taking the belly pan off. unless there is some huge thing on top preventing you from looking from above. in which case take that off, which should be easier than crawling about underneath.
course it is a gaylander so i might be wrong.

is the "small hook shaped pipe" metal?. I'm wondering if it might be the gearbox/IRD breather pipe. have you been driving in any water?

Slob,

The reason i said get the belly pan off was all fluids go downwards, he is more likely to find the leak if he can source where its dripping from and then look upwards, with the belly pan on no light gets under the car so searching the engine from the top isnt that easy.

Yep Aussielander the pipe is metal. Not been driving in any water though.It is mystery to me why it has suddenly stopped though?

Zippy said:

Slob,

The reason i said get the belly pan off was all fluids go downwards, he is more likely to find the leak if he can source where its dripping from and then look upwards, with the belly pan on no light gets under the car so searching the engine from the top isnt that easy.

Click to expand...

quite possibly but also it can be said that fluids will take the easiest route which isn't always straight down so if you can spot it from the top you would have a better chance of finding where its coming from. and its preferable to crawling about underneath if as i suspect he dunt got axle stands or ramps

Cheers mate,

I will have a rummage around and see if I can source the leak.

just had a thought here... has it bin in a garage anytime recently? and if so do you know if they topped up the coolant?

Yeah, it was in the garage about three weeks ago. The did give it a small service.

is it possible they spilt some coolant while topping up? that would explain why its suddenly stopped

Not sure mate, I will need to ask them. My first thought when it started was S***.....major problem, due to the state it left my driveway in. Oh well, may even hand the garage the cleaning bill for my driveway.

is the pipe about 8mm and open ended?, does sound like the gearbox/IRD breather. take it back to the garage and make them fix whatever the problem is

IF you firstly try and find out weather it is a water based fluid or an oil based fluid. this will narrow things down. Did you try smell the liquid? Gearbox oil has a distictive smell.

Will do. Cheers mate

Last one teedee, and probably not, but its not yer aircon is it? how many times have I come back to me fooker in a car park and someone's collared me wiv 'theres a big leak/puddle from yer motor mate..'

'They all do that son' is gettin a tadge regular...


Mind, it cud be summat really really really baaaaaaad...............

Cashybai, many thanks for the advice. I did make a point of keeping the air con off in case this was the cause, but it still persists unfortunately.
Many thanks tho.