Its a colour thing

[Upatdawn]

Is (manual) gearbox/diff oil tinted red?....

[geeks]

No.

Also not all gearboxes take gear oil, some take good old fashioned engine oil.

EP90 or other viscosities for diffs is generally gold in colour.

Red Liquid tends to be hydraulic fluid like power steering but then can be green as well

[Upatdawn]

woobleu wooblu woobleu dotty com castrol says Syntrax Universal Plus 75W-90

what it is basically ive a got small puddle underneath the car, i know ive a leaking hose (U/S hose clip) and the coolant is red, the water level was going down very slowly so i was (obviously) topping it up, now the level is static....very odd

the puddle is red and a bit oily

im collecting a sample with the old cardboard sheet and kitchen roll, the underpan doesnt help, anything dripped will roll the the rear

thanks anyway

(the hoseclip job is booked in)

im monitoring the power steering fluid levels but where the drip is theres no PAS components

[Upatdawn]

the engine oil level hasnt moved in 1200 miles this month

[OnistOssifer]

Upatdawn said:

Is (manual) gearbox/diff oil tinted red?....

Depends on the car. Vauxhall use what can only be described as red pish in their manual boxes. First thing I did in all the GM cars I've had is get that crap drained out and proper 75W90 semi-synthetic gearbox oil put in.

Peugeot also use a red fluid.

[Upatdawn]

its a DaewoChevvHolden Heppypicatosca 2.0ltr diesel, so GM in a way

[Upatdawn]

The workshop manual says "top gearbox up with SAE 75W90"

[soda]

At the risk of going slightly off topic what does the SAE bit mean?

I'm assuming its not stamped addressed envelope

[HustleRussell]

Upatdawn said:

Is (manual) gearbox/diff oil tinted red?....

Some cars, particularly BMWs, use ATF in their manual 'boxes. ATF is almost invariably cherry red. ATF is also frequently used as a PAS fluid.

[HustleRussell]

soda said:

At the risk of going slightly off topic what does the SAE bit mean?

I'm assuming its not stamped addressed envelope

It stands for the name of the regulatory body who determines and standardises oil properties/viscocities etc. Can't remember what it actually stands for though.

ETA: Googled it, Society of Automotive Engineers.

[CrutyRammers]

I'd guess at PAS fluid.

[Upatdawn]

PAS fluid was a bit low, but its a clear fluid

this is the offending/leaking hose clip, you can see where the coolant has dripped, but ive not lost any coolant for a few day, yet below this the block is wet, and its water,,,

i felt under the hoseclip to the right and theres water there, the item under the hose is the starter motor

mysterious britain....

Edited by Upatdawn on Tuesday 26th November 12:18

[Upatdawn]

I dont want the starter ******* up, its £500 to replace

[Upatdawn]

seems ive got a slight red oil leak in addition to the coolant leak, red+oily must be the gearbox, oh joy...........

[Upatdawn]

behind the starter is a black round item i cant identify, any ideas what it could be? you can just see it in the picture

Edited by Upatdawn on Wednesday 27th November 19:07

[Upatdawn]

from a source...


"according to my mechanic its a vac-con. Or in our layman terms a vacum connector, but he didn't say what it did"

Edited by Upatdawn on Thursday 28th November 19:52