348 348 Strange Oil Spot under the front end!

Sounds like a lot. What else could it be other than brake/clutch fluid (in the centre of the car)? Are the reservoir levels low?

Without lifting the car or removing the frunk carpet, I don't think you're going to see where the leak is coming from. Act quickly before the fluid eats away your paintwork.

 

Brake fluid is very watery but it could be refrigerant oil possibly? Is your aircon functional?

 

Steering rack, yes it has oil in it.

 

According to the manual, the 348 steering rack is filled with BP Energrease FGL (a kind of fairly "thin" grease). I recently found and bought an available substitute for the specified BP grease - Shell Gadus S2 V220 0.

 

When it leaks out after all the years it leaks out like oil, sort of light honey color.

 

Your just going to have to get it up on ramps and start looking around or I would pull each wheel check your steering rack boots for leaks you will stumble upon it eventually.

 

its in the manual I don't recall off hand but its measured in CC's so not much. Crawl under the front of the car you can see the steering pinion box where the console links to it, if that's leaking it will be obvious.

 

Is that a real question? Something is loose, something has a bad seal, something was overfilled etc. You'll need to check, it's not like there is one solution to a fluid leak in that spot. [emoji3]

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Did you recently top up the brake fluid? On the 348, the fluid level in the reservoir fluctuates depending on whether the brake accumulator is full or empty. If the reservoir is somewhat overfilled with the accumulator full (charged), the fluid level in the reservoir will go further up when the accumulator empties itself (after the car has sat for a couple of weeks). This may cause some fluid to be pushed out via the overflow tube.

Another possibility is rupture of the accumulator diaphragm allowing the pressurised nitrogen to enter the braking system and push some fluid out. Have the brake accumulator tested for correct operation.

 

Check the fluid tank first, fluids should be right about where the plastic seam is. If its below then you possibly have a leak somewhere. If its above then could be as simple as over fill or as Miroljub mentions. I'd remove the front trunk liner to make sure you get a good visual inspection, there are holes under the trunk area, if your brake fluid leaks due to a line or something it will drain out. Pull the trunk liner have a good look at the tank, level and surrounding area.

 

Pumping the clutch, no. If the brake reservoir was filled to the brink while the brake accumulator was full, pumping the brake pedal with ignition off can cause fluid overflow as it will release brake fluid from the brake accumulator back into the brake reservoir so this additional fluid can cause the fluid, at already too high level, to be expelled via the overflow pipe.

You can check where the highest level in your brake reservoir is now if you, with the ignition off, pump the brake pedal some 25 times (i.e. until it becomes very hard) then see where the level in the brake reservoir is. If the level is close to overflowing, take some fluid out.

 

MAX and MIN brake fluid levels are shown on the side of the reservoir but they are hard to see unless the trunk liner is removed. NOTE: the marked levels are applicable when the brake accumulator is full. This means - switch the ignition to ACC position and wait until the ABS light goes off (the ABS pump stops humming) then check the fluid level.

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If the fluid level is set to the MAX as described, the fluid level will go somewhat above the MAX mark if you pump the brake pedal (ignition off) some 25 times. This higher level will be somewhere between the MAX mark and the top wall of the reservoir. This can be seen without removing the trunk liner.

 

Normally, if the brake reservoir is overfilled, pumping the brake pedal 25 times will just cause part of (not all of) the overfill amount to be expelled via the overflow tube. However, even though not all of the overfill is expelled, you will probably not have any further fluid being pushed out because, after one fluid purge, there will be just enough "breathing" space in the brake reservoir to accommodate the fluid level fluctuation caused by the brake accumulator being full or empty.

To remove all of the overfill amount, you need to remove (suck out with a syringe or some other means) sufficient amount of fluid from the reservoir so that the fluid level is at the MAX mark at the time when the brake accumulator is fully charged (see post #21).