Leak While In Neutral?

[Tillmorn]

Afternoon everyone,

 

A few days ago I became the proud owner of a manual 2008 Legacy GT. I've put a few hundred miles on it already (drove it for a weekend before buying) and everything seemed to check out fine. Today, however, I found a streak of fluid leading into my driveway and pooled beneath the car (passenger side). It looks like it started after shifting into neutral while pulling in, though after the initial streak it turned to patches. It smells like oil and is brown in color, but that's about the extent of my car knowledge. So...a few points to keep in mind:

 

1) The vehicle has 105k miles on it.

2) The oil and filter were replaced ~120 miles ago. As well as the front passenger CV axle.

3) I am new to driving a manual as a daily driver (previous experience stems purely from moving vehicles around the car lot, putting gas in sold vehicles for customers, etc.) As such, I am still fairly rough on the clutch, especially in 1st and 2nd gear.

4) I had just come back from about an hour and a half long drive around the town and back highways (trying to clock as much time as possible to help become a competent manual driver).

 

Any thoughts on what it might be?

[apexi]

The fact that you just had the passenger side axle replaced leads me to think the axle seal is now leaking, they are somewhat delicate.

 

Gear oil looks similar to motor oil, but it has a very strong, unique smell.

 

In your shoes, I would recommend going under the car to see if there is any fluid leaking down from where the person circled in the image below.

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v238/mschmidt/DSC05728.jpg

 

I borrowed that image from the thread below

http://legacygt.com/forums/showthread.php/front-half-shaft-leak-axle-seali-92936.html

 

If you are unable to go under the car to check for a leak, I would recommend keeping an eye on your transmission fluid level. The transmission dipstick has a yellow handle, and is located on the passenger side of the car.

 

The red arrow in the image below points to where the transmission dipstick should be.

http://i.imgur.com/dpJ7HU9.jpg

 

Image above borrowed from the thread below

http://legacygt.com/forums/showthread.php/my-wifes-07-legacy-gt-my-other-money-pit-201664.html

 

Also, since you recently purchased this car, I'm not sure if you know about their quirks. Keep an eye on your engine oil level as well, some of these cars like to consume oil. I try to check my oil level at least once every two weeks, depending on how much driving I do. Nothing wrong with checking it more often until you get an idea of how much oil your car consumes, if any.

[Tillmorn]

When I checked under the car the leak did appear to be coming from right around the CV axle, so that might explain it. I'll get it up on a rack at the dealership tomorrow to get a look at it all. Hopefully it's just a seal and they didn't do any potentially permanent damage.

[ras06LGT]

Nah, probably just nicked the seal when re-installing the new half shaft. Very easy to do. A new seal is pretty cheap and should solve the issue. I would not be worried about permanent damage.

 

Make sure to get the correct seal, as they are LH and RH side specific.

 

You might also want to take a look at the passenger side valve cover while it's up on a lift. They are known to leak as well. If the half shaft seal isn't the issue, that's the next place to look.

[Tillmorn]

Update: It was in fact from the side axle install. One hard stall after I saw the leak and the axle was thrown out. Finally got her back this past Tuesday after two weeks of sitting (I live in the Midlands of SC...aka flood-central) at the shop waiting on a clutch to come in that they did not end up needing. Thankfully, I paid nothing for all of this since it was our sister dealership's bad install.

 

Now she's driving perfect. And I'm getting a heck of a lot smoother with the shifts. Next month I'll be getting the timing belt done.