Bobsteriffic Posted November 10, 2015 Share Posted November 10, 2015 Alright so by now I feel like the majority of people know me as the "my Pathfinder's falling apart can you help me fix it" guy, but I seriously could use some insight from proper mechanics/Pathfinder veterans... So recently I had to refill my brake fluid as I noticed the brake light came on. That was about 6 weeks ago or so, and now a week ago it came on again, so I refilled it again. I had a feeling that something may be wrong, but today was the day that proved my hunch was probably right. It looks like wherever its leaking is allowing the fluid to run down the tow hook, and then it drips off of that. You guys are the smart ones. Any insight into this would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slartibartfast Posted November 10, 2015 Share Posted November 10, 2015 Interesting. Check the soft brake line where it meets the hard line and the hard line if the soft line's alright. It might be hard to pinpoint the leak since the area will be wet all over, but maybe if you have someone pump the brakes while you look it'll show itself more clearly. That's how I found the leaky plug on my MC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobsteriffic Posted November 10, 2015 Author Share Posted November 10, 2015 Interesting. Check the soft brake line where it meets the hard line and the hard line if the soft line's alright. It might be hard to pinpoint the leak since the area will be wet all over, but maybe if you have someone pump the brakes while you look it'll show itself more clearly. That's how I found the leaky plug on my MC. I honestly can't tell if it's even the brake fluid now. I'm now between that, power steering fluid, and radiator fluid. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpecialWarr Posted November 10, 2015 Share Posted November 10, 2015 In that location I can only think of 2 things it might be: 1) Automatic transmission oil from the return side of the cooler or 2) radiator fluid from a crack somewhere. ATF is mostly a red color so if you put down a white sheet of paper / rag and start the truck and throw into neutral for a while and take a look at the ... ahh... white thing... then you should be able to tell what color it is. (assuming that it is a serious leak). I am doing a trans oil cooler bypass since mine just blew a large amount onto the rad / bash plate / hoses and ground. I would suggest you do the same since you also have the auto. Dead trans from a plugged return line is a dead truck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kingman Posted November 10, 2015 Share Posted November 10, 2015 (edited) Well the brake fluid is obviously going somewhere. I can't imagine a hose leaking all the way to the front of the truck from the frame rail but it might. If your truck has rear drums I would pull them off and check for a blown out wheel cylinder. A bad master cylinder can leak fluid into the booster right behind it, those can hold quite a bit before leaking out however the fluid usually ends up leaking out where the two bolt together before that happens. Brake fluid eats paint and coatings , so if that is what's all over the place you may want to hose it off. Leaking brake fluid isn't something to be taken lightly... if that reservoir runs dry you will lose your brakes. Edited November 10, 2015 by Kingman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobsteriffic Posted November 10, 2015 Author Share Posted November 10, 2015 In that location I can only think of 2 things it might be: 1) Automatic transmission oil from the return side of the cooler or 2) radiator fluid from a crack somewhere. ATF is mostly a red color so if you put down a white sheet of paper / rag and start the truck and throw into neutral for a while and take a look at the ... ahh... white thing... then you should be able to tell what color it is. (assuming that it is a serious leak). I am doing a trans oil cooler bypass since mine just blew a large amount onto the rad / bash plate / hoses and ground. I would suggest you do the same since you also have the auto. Dead trans from a plugged return line is a dead truck. I will definitely be doing this once I'm home. So just put some rags or paper towels under the front of the truck and put her in neutral? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobsteriffic Posted November 10, 2015 Author Share Posted November 10, 2015 Well the brake fluid is obviously going somewhere. I can't imagine a hose leaking all the way to the front of the truck from the frame rail but it might. If your truck has rear drums I would pull them off and check for a blown out wheel cylinder. A bad master cylinder can leak fluid into the booster right behind it, those can hold quite a bit before leaking out however the fluid usually ends up leaking out where the two bolt together before that happens. Brake fluid eats paint and coatings , so if that is what's all over the place you may want to hose it off. Leaking brake fluid isn't something to be taken lightly... if that reservoir runs dry you will lose your brakes. I've been doing a good job (in my opinion) of monitoring the level of brake fluid, but I do think that the level is slowly dropping again. And as far as the rear drums go, I recently took her in to get new brakes and they didn't notice anything then, so I'm guessing that makes that possibility a bit less likely? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpecialWarr Posted November 11, 2015 Share Posted November 11, 2015 (edited) I will definitely be doing this once I'm home. So just put some rags or paper towels under the front of the truck and put her in neutral? Exactly! Leave it in neutral for a few seconds ( I did mine solo so it was in neutral for about 12 seconds while I took a look under the front). Since the power steering lines run in the same area AND the rad is there color is going to be the determining factor in the fluid identification. Edited November 11, 2015 by SpecialWarr 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mechanicalbaron Posted November 11, 2015 Share Posted November 11, 2015 My first thought was a wheel cylinder. Wasn't sure if you had a drum brake model. Being you just had brakes done and now your losing fluid, I would look under the rear at the backing plates and see if anything is wet around the wheel cylinder or bottom of the plate. If they are leaking and your losing that much fluid you should see something. The oil on the right front frame rail likely is from the power steering return hose or radiator /cooler like the others mentioned. Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobsteriffic Posted November 17, 2015 Author Share Posted November 17, 2015 My apologies for the delayed response, as far as the brake fluid leakage goes, I still haven't tracked that down. On the other hand, I have identified the liquid that is currently leaking as Automatic Transmission fluid. I checked my AT fluid levels the other day and I was not even to the "cold" marker on the dip stick. My thoughts is that the fluid is obviously running through the system, into the transmission fluid radiator, and that the radiator has a small leak somewhere which is causing the leak. Does this sound plausible? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
k9sar Posted November 17, 2015 Share Posted November 17, 2015 yep. could be a leak in the radiator or where the AT lines connect to the radiator. Most people would get an external cooler and run the lines to it and cap the ones on the radiator (run a tune from one nipple to the other to close the loop). That would probably take care of the problem. First though, I would crawl under and wipe down the entire area where the AT lines are coming into the radiator and wipe the bottom of the radiator too. Then, drive a bit and get back under and look for fluid. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpecialWarr Posted November 18, 2015 Share Posted November 18, 2015 Good call K9sar! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobsteriffic Posted November 18, 2015 Author Share Posted November 18, 2015 yep. could be a leak in the radiator or where the AT lines connect to the radiator. Most people would get an external cooler and run the lines to it and cap the ones on the radiator (run a tune from one nipple to the other to close the loop). That would probably take care of the problem. First though, I would crawl under and wipe down the entire area where the AT lines are coming into the radiator and wipe the bottom of the radiator too. Then, drive a bit and get back under and look for fluid. Alright I will probably be doing this later tonight then! Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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