My wife texted me these pictures of my T4R while I'm traveling for work... crap

[twalk]

My phone starts dinging like crazy this afternoon. One picture after another rolls in via text from my wife.

The message that accompanies them is: "Your truck is leaking oil"

Anybody want to venture a guess as to what's going on here?

It looks like a damned murder scene under the front, driver's side of my 2000 SR5. No clue what's up. The last time the truck was driven was last night. I drove it about 5 miles to get a stone ship repaired in the windshield, then drove home.

I had her snap a couple of pictures from under the hood looking down past the alternator, behind the radiator (these are looking down while standing in front of the driver's side bumper)

I really have no clue, and I'm afraid to have her drive it to the shop.

 

[Socco]

Is is motor oil? Oil filter loose? Check the dip stick to see if your low.

 

[sarsabious]

My phone starts dinging like crazy this afternoon. One picture after another rolls in via text from my wife.

The message that accompanies them is: "Your truck is leaking oil"
I really have no clue, and I'm afraid to have her drive it to the shop.

The important pics were too blurry for me to make out anything definitive, but the first thing that comes to mind is that your oil filter is right in that neighborhood (assuming v6). Have you recently changed the oil? Just thinking out loud.... Best of luck sorting it out.

Is is motor oil? Oil filter loose? Check the dip stick to see if your low.

Great minds think alike....
"Well we really dont have a plan B. We didn't expect for the first plan to work. Sometimes you can overplan these things."

 

[twalk]

The important pics were too blurry for me to make out anything definitive, but the first thing that comes to mind is that your oil filter is right in that neighborhood (assuming v6). Have you recently changed the oil? Just thinking out loud.... Best of luck sorting it out.


Great minds think alike....
"Well we really dont have a plan B. We didn't expect for the first plan to work. Sometimes you can overplan these things."

I did just get it inspected about 10 days ago. Got a new rear brake line and new sway bar link, but I didn't think they did an oil change... Hopefullly they did, and they just didn't tighten up the new filter...

Oil looks pretty dirty though, which makes me think they didn't change it... Wish I was there to poke around.

Thanks for the input!

 

[PitbullRescuer]

Where in PA are you? I'm in Glenside, just outside Philly.

 

[twalk]

Where in PA are you? I'm in Glenside, just outside Philly.

I'm about 60-80 minutes west of you, just a few minutes west of Lancaster, PA.

 

[PitbullRescuer]

Damn, that's a bit far. If you were closer I'd take a look for you. But I won't have the time to run out there this week.

 

[twalk]

Damn, that's a bit far. If you were closer I'd take a look for you. But I won't have the time to run out there this week.

I certainly wouldn't expect you to, but thanks for even considering it! I'll be back home tomorrow. I don't mind getting under there and taking a look. My father-in-law has ramps and a garage full of tools. And while he's most accustomed to Subarus and motorcycles, he's pretty damned capable

 

[twalk]

Update photo.

I asked my wife to turn the truck on briefly and turn the wheel left, full stop, then take a picture from the front driver's side.

This is it

It doesn't show much more, but you can see that it looks like there is a ton of oil, and it's coming from somewhere up above and inside the shock absorber. Possibly the oil filter (which she says is a yellow Pennziol filter). She said the bottom of the filter is discolored "stained". That makes me think that there's not a good seal on the filter, and oil is seeping out onto the filter cover itself.

I'm somewhat relieved by that.

 

[drdolittlerwc]

You mentioned the brake hose was replaced... Could it be possible that the line was not tightened? Or perhaps the fluid is from them bleeding the lines w/o a proper bleeder?

Since it's all in the same spot... I'm leaning towards the brake line...

 

[twalk]

You mentioned the brake hose was replaced... Could it be possible that the line was not tightened? Or perhaps the fluid is from them bleeding the lines w/o a proper bleeder?

Since it's all in the same spot... I'm leaning towards the brake line...

The rear brake lines were replaced. They were gummed up and the brake pedal had too much travel.

So, yeah, there was brake line work done. It is possible that they messed with the front line when trying to diagnose the brake pedal issue, and it may be leaking now.

Good thought. Thanks.

 

[twalk]

Does brake fluid have any distinct odor (like transmission fluid)? My wife said that the liquid on the ground looked like oil, and didn't smell like anything.

 

[JWaldz]

you can definitely tell the difference in smell between brake fluid and motor oil. It looks either like diff fluid, brake fluid, or fresh/new motor oil. Your front cv may have somehow popped out the front diff and now it's leaking down the line of the cv and being flung all over the place. If it is the brake fluid, with the amount of fluid all over the area and on the ground the brake fluid reservoir would be completely empty. I would have her check that. It's on the driver side near the firewall. If it's full, it's not the brake fluid. So that leaves front diff fluid or the possibility that the shop did not tighten down the oil filter. It for some reason just doesn't look thick enough to be motor oil to me but pictures can be deceiving.


BTW, I changed the last word in your title to something a little more appropriate.

 

[cj80cruiser]

Make sure the brake fluid cap is on.

 

[jmildoc]

lots of good advice here, I am going to bet it is either the front brake bleeder didnt get tightened or the oil filter is leaking.

 

[Zottyzot]

From the pics, the fluid looks too thin (the way it saturated the metal) to be Motor Oil, I'm leaning towards brake fluid. It easily could have sprayed the area above the caliper, making it appear to be coming from somewhere up higher...

Where in PA are you? I'm in Glenside, just outside Philly.

Hey, I'm in Roslyn!

 

[PitbullRescuer]

Hey, I'm in Roslyn!

Small world. I'm actually on Roslyn Ave in Glenside.

 

[Nelsonmd]

From the pics, the fluid looks too thin (the way it saturated the metal) to be Motor Oil, I'm leaning towards brake fluid. It easily could have sprayed the area above the caliper, making it appear to be coming from somewhere up higher...

I agree, dirty motor oil would have also discolored your concrete, but your concrete just looks wet. Brake fluid is much more clear than motor oil.

 

[junr]

I was going to say, was brake fluid added when the pedal was initially low? I wonder if the extra fluid was not removed and is not coming out because the of the repair.

junr

 

[drdolittlerwc]

Did you figure it out?