Greetings all, for those that may have seen my post about radiator issues, you'll know i've been checking under my car regularly recently to see if that leak has started back up and while I was down there earlier today, I noticed some fresh-ish looking fluid of some sort, I cant really tell if its oil, tranny fluid, PS fluid or what, but it keeps collecting on this area:


the little roundish part just below the obvious screw that is just under a rather large silver blob is where i notice the collection of fluid. it doesnt drip, it just kinda forms a drop on that little part but i dont have any spots on my driveway that indicate that its leaking profusely. the thing im talking about looks like its part of the suspension somehow, it has a black bar that runs through it and goes through an identical part on the other side and connects to the tires like so:



the part in question is now in the very upper left hand corner.

im sure you techies can probably tell me exactly what this is and its function but can any of you give a reasonable suggestion as to why it might get this small droplet of fluid on it? if it helps, there is a squeak that seems to be coming from that area when i am A) moving slowly, such as in a parking lot, and B) go over objects like speed bumps, gutters etc. and C) if the temperature is exceeding 60ish degrees. when its cooler temps, it doesnt squeak at all, the warmer it gets, the more it sqeaks. at first i thought it was bad shocks or rusty springs or something like that but i had my friend bounce the car lighly while i looked under it and it looked like it was coming from exactly that part.

is the bar a sway bar and the little silver thing in question just a thing that holds the bar on the car? im pretty sure its not part of the steering since it doesnt move side to side at all and is, as shown in the second picture, connected to a control arm (at least i think thats what the thing it's connected to is called) and doesnt look like it has a connection to tie rods or anything. the small leak of fluid doesnt seem to have any adverse affects on driving, it steers fine, handles fine, doesnt clunk or anything, just that light squeak i mentioned, so i dont think it's too big a deal if it goes unattended to, though getting rid of that sqeak would be nice so if anyone knows what the problem might be and can help and its a relatively simple fix, that'd be much appreciated.

thanks a bunch,
-Justin

P.S. sorry for the grainycellphonepictures dab, its all i had at the time and was feeling particularly lazy and didnt want to get out from under the car and go get my digicam and then crawl back under to take the pix. should someone need more detailed/higher quality pix to provide more information, then i can go retake them. thanks again.

 

it is the sway bar/anti roll bar and that silver thing is a bushing and the squeak is probably nothing unless it clunks then its the drop link arm at the end of the anti roll bar,

check all fluid levels and feel the fluid whats dropped to see if its oily or just water ( a slight taste will tell you if its coolant[:'(] ) it will be sweet tasting because it will be antifreeze[X(][:'(][:'(]

 

could be fluid from the engine mounts. yes that is the sway bar that connects to the sway bar links on each side of the car. as for the squeak it could be the upper arms

 

good point there, spray the upper arms with silicon/WD40 to eliminate dry rubber bushings

 

Sweet, I had considered some WD40 but didnt want to risk screwing something up worse by spraying it on something I shouldnt. I'm going out of town for the holiday tomorrow but soon as I'm back I'll have fun with a can of WD40 for a few minutes and let you know if the squeak persists.

As for the fluid possibly being antifreeze, its not likely. The color of it is a darkish yet transparent brown, almost like oil but the oil in my car is only about 1500 miles used and looks pretty clean on the dipstick and whatever is on the bushing looks like the color of oil that's getting close to needing changed. The reason I say it's not antifreeze is because currently, my coolant is green due to my having just bought the car almost 2 months ago and the previous owner was a bit of a dingus. So far, I havent had a problem with the coolant itself (just a ghost 'crack' on the radiator) being sludgy or anything that might indicate it having been mixed with the G12 that is supposed to be in there, so either the green was put in after a flush or the system overheated and the previous owner lost everything in there and just stuck the cheapest coolant in there that he could find. That said, next chance I get, I'll take a macro shot of the bushing with my digicam so you can take a better look at it cuz the fluid almost looks like its coming from the bushing itself.

Then again, I've just been looking at this by squeezing under the bumper with my fat head so I cant really take a super good look at it. I'll have to find someone that has a lift that could put her in the air for a bit and see if it is just a leak off the engine mounts. The guy I bought it from said that the oil gaskets were leaky and he had just replaced them a couple weeks before putting the car up for sale so maybe the mystery fluid is just old oil that had leaked out pre-gasket replacement and its still just slowly dripping off the mount.

Anyhoo, thanks for the suggestions, I'll post an update when I return from vacation and mess with it some more.

 

If the bushing is shot, it could be from the bushing itself - some bushing materials (such as those used to make the motor mounts, or ball joints) will leak when they're worn out or cracked. That may be what you're seeing.

 

not these bushings they are solid rubber so ill have a guess ( just bought car "engine very clean" ) bloke had oil seals replaced, not difficult to guess what it is engine been jet washed to clean it up and your getting the residue from chassis places at least that's what its looking like to me

 

the residue idea seems plausible, like I said, its a very dirty looking fluid, significantly blacker than engine oil, though I took a closer look at the creaking noise I mentioned and its not from the area in the pix as I previously guessed, its coming from the passenger side. I missed it because with your head wedged under the bumper, noise sounds closer than where it really is originating, when I got tinkering with it today, I bounced the car over the drivers side wheel well and didnt hear the creak, walked over to the passengers side and it was loud as day. none the less, I WD40'd the areas that looked like the most likely culprits for the noise, there were some rusty looking joints and such on both sides so I went to town with the WD on both and hopefully that might help a little.

On another note, while tinkering under there again today I noticed a drip coming off the PS hoses, never noticed it before cuz my car's never been parked in the same spot for more than a day until this weekend and I noticed a small collection of something on the ground when I got home and got looking at it and at first thought it was engine oil from the color of it on the drip but after taking a paper towel to the area, it was most definitely PS fluid so I tightened the fastener screws that were holding the hoses on to the metal lines that they were connected to and time will tell if that helps, but if not, is it just a bad hose or is there something else that might be going on? It didnt look like it was traveling down the hose from the reservoir and collecting on that low point so I would put my money on it being a bad hose if not just the loose connection.

That being said, on a side note, is anyone else on this forum, particularly techies, from the SLC area of Utah? If so, I could use some help both with the issues I've been posting about (radiator stuff, creaks, leaks and such) as well as I'd like to lower her an inch or two (lots of catalytic converter thefts lately and I'm sitting pretty high for a passenger car and would prefer to not have my cat come up missing, unless I personally take it out for a test pipe, but with utah's emissions tests, that's not likely) so if theres anyone in this area that could help me with the aforementioned, that'd be awesome. I also have some spray tint on order at the local hobby shop (of all the things for that place to be sold out of, the thing I go after is what's gone) to tint the tail lights with, which seems like a pretty simple task, but I could still use the help, just in case so hit me up if you live around here and could lend a hand