Not too long ago, while I was deployed, my wife bought a Z32 which was supposedly in excellent condition. Now that I'm back, it has a couple issues which I need some help with. The exhaust is burning fluid that is leaking onto it, but I don't know what type of fluid it is. Here are some pictures.



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yman wrote:Not too long ago, while I was deployed, my wife bought a Z32 which was supposedly in excellent condition. Now that I'm back, it has a couple issues which I need some help with. The exhaust is burning fluid that is leaking onto it, but I don't know what type of fluid it is. Here are some pictures.



This ↑↑↑↑↑↑ leaked out of there ↓↓↓↓↓↓↓

Wow, if it's oil, and leaking THAT BAD you could have a blown head gasket or even a cracked block. can't tell if it's oil or not though.

It doesnt smell like oil. I even got some oil and some of the fluid and smelled both, the fluid that is leaking smells kind of like rubber.

From the looks of it that is leaking back by the Cats which i would think would be the transmission output seal. In that case alot easier thing to fix than a cracked block or rear main seal leak. Its been a while since i have been under my car but is it coming from about the middle of the car? If so output shaft/drive shaft seal.

it is directly under the stick shift, in the dead center of the car. Thanks for the tip, I'll lift it up tomorrow and check it out. Just worried about driving it mainly, it smokes alot.

ya sounds most likely like the rear seal or it could be the shifter stricker seal as well but your location would indicate either one. it would be a good idea to leave it parked since who knows how low it is on fluid from that puddle it looks like its leaving a decent size. just check it out and make sure its full of fluid.

This might be a bit noob-ish, but where do I check the fluid?

Passenger side in the middle of the trans about half way up the side of it. I havent had mine in the car yet so idk how much of a pita it is to get to with the exhaust in but below is a pic with the trans half way out and you can see circled in red is the check location.

How hard is it to replace that seal? Is there any DIY write-up you can point me to?

Id have to check but its not that hard at all, drop the drive-shaft and pull the old one out then put the new one in. Kinda hard to screw up really, if you dont get the new seal in straight then you could ruin the seal but this is definitely a .5 difficulty on a scale of 0-10.

Transmission Fluid is a pinkish red, that looks like oil

yman wrote:It doesnt smell like oil. I even got some oil and some of the fluid and smelled both, the fluid that is leaking smells kind of like rubber.

My car has a nasty smell like that sometimes and a little bit of smoke comes from behind the engine, do you slip in high RPMs by any chance? I hope my tranny isn't going out

Assuming that the fluid is not burnt that would be true but burnt trans fluid turns brown. Also it assumes that the previous owner knew the correct fluid to put in and might have put in regular gear oil.

Tranny fluid still has a distinct smell

True, burnt ATF has a rubbery kind of smell in a weird way to it. Idk what the factory spec fluid is but since you said its red/pink im assuming ATF which is not uncommon for manual trans to use. And again when ATF gets burnt it turns brown like that. I just changed the burnt stuff in my Jimmy and it was browner than brown is brown just like his pic is showing and i just went out and smelled it and it does have a rubber smell to it. From the pic its hard to imagine it being engine oil staying on top of the trans all the way that far back before it finally falls off and in that quantity.

Only 1 way to find out

Check Engine Oil lvl Check Tranny Fluid Lvl Check Powersteering lvl

what ever one looks very low is whats leaking

Again not always necessarily true. Only way to know is to see where the leak is coming from for sure. Your method would work in a perfect world but this one is far from that.

Correct me if I'm wrong but the OP's profile says its a 5speed? So the tranny oil would look like regular gear oil and that could be it. I agree that its either a large valve cover leak (dried up rubber end seals), rear main seal or the transmission output seal. Start from the highest visible leak downwards.

Okay did the research and the factory fluid is a 75w-90 gear oil. The red stuff that James is referring to is Redline MT-90 which is a good substitute for the factory gear oil but the factory stuff IS brown. It should also be considerably thicker than normal engine oil. I am still leaning toward it being the driveshaft seal considering where it is coming from. So can we stop arguing about what type of fluid it is and help this guy find his problem?

The engine oil is at regular levels, last oil change was a few months ago. Power steering fluid is perfect. Haven't been able to check the tranny fluid because I don't know how, and didn't have the tools to do it. I want to take it to the hobby shop on base but am worried about getting a ticket for the smoke it emits, or breaking something on the way there. It IS a 5-speed BTW. Transmission does not slip at high RPM's.

When you rub the oil with your fingers does it feel thicker than motor oil?

id start by getting a couple cans of degreaser and cleaning all the oil up so you can visually see where its coming from

dude im it is ur tranny fluid cause i have the same problem and now im getting a tranny over haul with new seals and s***!!!

Thanks to everybody for all the help, especially the suggestion for the seal from the driveshaft to the transmission. That turned out to be the problem, the hardest part was finding the right part. Autozone was no help, Napa didn't have the part, finally found the part at the stealership. Easiest repair ever, hardest part was taking everything apart (exhaust/driveshaft) and cleaning the old parts which my wife did. Also, getting gear oil into the transmission was excellent fun.

Thank you nicoclub

Glad you got it taken care of! Exhaust and d-shaft do suck but ya its so easy after that...