Identify This Leak... Need To Resolve Asap

[Greasy]

Hey guys, i was having a bit of a fiddle the other day on my car fitting up a catch can.

Popped the bonnet after driving for a while to check everything was sweet with it, and it was... BUT i had a nasty surprise.

Checked the whole engine bay and found what i thought was brake fluid pissed up all over the drivers side of the engine bay (had gone onto top of the intake plenum, bottom of the bonnet, over my fuel filter etc.).. i had a quick look for any obvious leaks but couldnt see anything major.

I immediately washed all of the fluid off, obviously trying to protect everything from corroding. I automatically assumed it was the brake master cylinder, as it looked to be brake fluid, so after washing it all off i got my girlfriend to pump the brakes and see what happened. There was a slight leak/ weeping from the bottom of the brake master cylinder, so i thought it was that. The fluid inside it also looked quite murky, so i thought it was corroded. I have now taken it off and bought a freshly reconditioned unit.

I thought id have another look around the engine bay before fitting it and i saw what i thought may have actually been the cause.. the hicas pump (i think thats what it is) there is two 14mm sized heads on the top of the unit and one of them looked a bit black/ oily, but i checked and it was very tight. i felt underneath my alarm siren and there was fluid all over the bottom of it.... this has lead me to think that it may be this pump...

anyone got a theory of which one it could be? or could it have been something else all together...

I am going to fit my master cylinder and bleed all the lines etc. anyways, but just worried that it may not have even been the cause in the first place..

sorry about the essay.. kinda noobie when it comes to this kinda stuff.

Thanks, Reece

[shaun_perry]

First things first.

Is your car manual or auto??? This second cylinder, is it near the brake master cylinder???

If it is and your car is a manual (which it most likely is), it will most certainly be the "clutch" master cylinder.

It will not be the hicas as the hicas is run from an electric motor on the back of the diff.

I hope that helps,

Shaun.

[QWK32]

^^^^^ correction. R32 run a hydraulic system for the HICAS. and when the clutch master cylinder goes it tends to leak into the cabin, not the engine bay.

Greasy - your hicas pump is apart of the power steering pump. the only thing on the drivers side of the engine bay to do with the hicas is a control solinoid. if you have checked all the fitting on it and you don't seem to be using any powersteering fluid it wont be that.

Edited January 18, 2009 by QWK32