430 Fluid leaking on floor - F1 fluid?

Hoping I can get a quick diagnosis here. Never had anything leak on the garage so far in two months of ownership, but I drove the car for a quick drive last Wednesday. Then I was out of town until last night. Just now I came in to park my other car and noticed a little reddish brown fluid pool on the garage floor by the right rear wheel (see pics). Is this F1 fluid? My car is a converted manual, so I'm not exactly sure of what fluids are involved where. I couldn't see anything leaking when I looked from the top inside the engine bay.

Any idea what this is and what is required to fix it? My quick search led me to both an easy fix of just draining the overflow to don't turn on the car it may erupt in a fire


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Is your e-diff still functional after the conversion? If so..this could from the f1 fluid being over filled and leaking out of the over flow tube. But have it checked regarless

 

Yes, the e-diff was retained. Should I try to follow the bulletin posted in this thread? Sounds like the same issue this guy had: https://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/threads/f1-fluid-overflow.622041/

Not sure where I get that little tool pipe though.

 

Without the F1 system, it is unlikely that an overflow is caused by too much fluid sitting overnight... Ediff won't cause that, not usually. Take out the diffuser and look for the source of the leak. Most likely leaking from one of the plugs (where the F1 used to be) or some hose broke. Or some of the connection fittings.
If they used F1 fluid style in the clutch it could also be the clutch fluid leaking from the bleed valve... Don't drive it anymore.... it could be one of 29.5 things.

 

You should easily see if fluid is coming from the overflow tube or seeping from the diffuser ..if leaking from overflow tube that sticks thru diffuser and diffuser is clean ..then we need to look at why the fluid overflowed .. we will open the little panel on engine bay and measure it

Send me a PM with your number if you like and I will have a 10 min call with and we can get to the bottom of this

 

Overfilling can cause this and the problem only becomes known when the engine bay gets hot.

Another issue can be an air leak further down the system, co check the E-Diff hoses and bleed nipples.

Also, it looks like your fluid is due a change - it should be bright red (even accounting for the floor dirt).

 

First off, I am not F430 expert in form or fashion. That being said, is your car Spider? If that is the case, could the leak be from roof hydraulics? The colour of leak is similar to hydraulic fluid used in 360 Spider. Or at least in my 360 Spider.

 

You don’t need the little pipe tool. It’s way easier to just stick your index finger into the reservoir until it touches the baffle inside. The fluid level should be halfway up your fingernail.
Talk to flash32, he’ll walk you through the whole process. It’s very easy, just intimidating the first time.


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Thank you. PM sent. From what I can tell with my untrained eye (and reflected in the first picture I attached), the liquid seems to be gathering on the diffuser, then dripping from the diffuser to the floor. But again that's just my take of it.

The odd thing is I've gone on very long drives (over an hour) and never had an issue, yet this started after taking the car on a 1 mile run and then leaving it for a few days. Thanks on the tip for the fluid change. My indy who just put back my stock exhaust mentioned I should just do it at my next service, but it maybe wouldn't hurt to do it earlier.

It's a coupe, so that rules out the hydraulics.

 

Not sure if this was said yet but even though it's not a f1 car anymore, the ediff and f1 shared the same reservoir that's back up in that side of the car and it could still possibly overflow if overfilled. And yes as Mark says the oil looks kind of dirty

 

Did the longer drives happen over faster roads, and the shorter drives in slower/built up areas encountering more stop/start traffic?

 

I don't think anyone mentioned it specifically, but that was something I realized it could be after finding that thread I linked in my post above (#3).

 

Very easy to check. Remove the small engine compartment panel four screws and you're there

 

From what I can remember, my last few drives were (most recent first):

Wed - drove to neighbor's house 0.8 miles away and back. Residential area so small side streets and a few stop signs.
Tues - drove to get dry cleaning. About 4 miles away, few stop signs and red lights, lots of 50 mph + driving.

Before that were a few drives a few miles each taking people for rides, and then a long drive to a cars and coffee through mountain roads about an hour each way.

 

Alright, so this thing looks way overfilled? I know flash32 is going to walk me through it, but since it was easy enough to remove the side panel and unscrew the reservoir cap I thought why not. See this quick video, it is filled to the brim and the cap even has some liquid on it (a few drops fell into the engine bay, I wiped it off with a dry paper towel). Also you can see where it's dripping on the diffuser I think, the darker "wet" part from the top view matches where it is dripping from underneath.

Video: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/p1m0o366xoyfy5prc5vvy/Video-Jun-11-2024-8-34-32-AM.mov?rlkey=800mz9l8i4neja5w1p8hvki64&dl=0




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Way overfilled. Remove some of that stuff and leave about an inch from the white plate at the bottom. It is also very dirty from what i can see; make sure you flush it soon. You will need to bleed the ediff to flush, now that you don't have an F1 anymore...

 

Mario
As you know but wanted to make it clear here for any newbies
That measurement is right after the pump just finishing running ( 6mm from plate/ .25 in) .. as the pressure is relieved the fluid rises .. so measurement will not be accurate unless done right after pumps stops with key in

 

I thought since it was converted there is no more pump? In any event, I definitely won't do anything until I hear from you flash, since I am definitely a newbie.

 

Whether a converted car or a factory car - a pump exists for the e-diff

 

Yes it’s way overfilled. You probably don’t have a leak, it’s just puking out of the overflow hose on the reservoir cap. If it’s hot outside and you drive it that will cause the fluid to expand and overflow, when it didn’t before when it was cold outside.

Get a turkey baster and put a short length of hose on the end. You’ll need to suck out a couple inches at least from the reservoir, depending on if the pump has ran recently. Follow flash32’s advice for pump on/off fluid level.

And yes, get the fluid changed. It should be bright red.


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Thanks all. I’m working with flash on fixing it. Quick question since I just pulled some of the fluid out - does this still look dirty to you?

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that looks ok in the glass but hard to tell. put some side by side so you can compare till you get it nice and clean looking

 

The best way is to put a few drops on a white paper towel and let it spread out ( 1 or 2 mins).. we can look how it spreads and color on paper towel after that time - take pics before and after time
From the pics it looks ok to me - doesn't really mean much
You can smell it as well

Smell, color on the towel and how it spreads on paper towel is key

 

Looks well used to me

 

Pour an equal amount of new fluid into a clear glass and put them side by side, like was recommended in an earlier post. I think you’ll see that your fluid is slightly discolored.

When I changed and flushed my F1 fluid, flash32 recommended that I use Mobil1 Synthetic ATF. That’s been in the system for about 3 years and it’s working great.


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