406oc.co.uk

Hi all I'm getting an oily odourless fluid under the drivers side of the car I thought it was the air con but haven't had it on for days and I'm not losing coolant any ideas its a 2.0 hdi 90

Put a piece of white kitchen towel or something over the puddle to see what colour the fluid is - just to help point us/you in the right direction.

Either power steering ( red ) or diesel ( not red... ) is most likely, unless its the washer reservoir by the front wheel arch behind the bumper?

Water trapped in the sills? slowly leaking out?

Someone borrowed your car and went Dogging....?

The sills thing is a good shout.

So long as it isn't brake fluid...

Or next-doors incontinent Cat....

Just a thought - when I've been driving my lorry with the air-con on, water pisses out all over the floor and people keep stopping me saying theres a water leak ( even the local mechanics! ) but it is simply the excess water/condensation from the condenser dripping on the floor....

Ooooh get you with your air-conditioned Lorry

If you were paying attention earlier in the show you'd have noticed the OP saying he hasn't used the a/c for days

GingerMagic wrote:Someone borrowed your car and went Dogging....?

Say, what?

GingerMagic wrote:Just a thought - when I've been driving my lorry with the air-con on, water pisses out all over the floor and people keep stopping me saying theres a water leak ( even the local mechanics! ) but it is simply the excess water/condensation from the condenser dripping on the floor....

I think that'll be from the evaporator, the condensate outlet on a 406 is 'conveniently' located under the handbrake and above the exhaust heat shield, allegedly.

It has a greasy feel but is clear and has not odour or not much of an odour if its diesel can that lose it odour im kinda hoping its ac but I don't use it at the moment have deliberately avoided it for 2+ weeks to try and find the problem its definitely not coolant that never goes down and I dive 100 miles a day so would have been noticeabl4e by now I only ask about diesel as I can faintly smell it in the vents but.

Easiest way to check if it's Diesel is to throw a bucket of tap water over the suspected patch - if pretty rainbows form then that'll be Diesel.

Doggy wrote:the condensate outlet on a 406 is 'conveniently' located under the handbrake and above the exhaust heat shield, allegedly.

The idea is supposed to allow the warty to boil-off, typically French and quirky but they didn't want it to look like the 406 has done a little wee every time you stopped. I think the idea came from the 405 if you remember they were being made with free a/c at a time when no-one really had it....consequently no-one understood that it was supposed to leak condensate either and lots of confusion ensued. The fact that the drip-on-eggsauce doesn't work is irrelevant, at least they tried

My Volvo's condense drain does a series of sharp turns.....and then does the dribble-on-cat trick....only the last turn is so tight it likes to block up....and flood the cabin.....I'm dead cool though and clear it out periodically to prevent the trouble

Carry on....

I would be inclined to suspect brake fluid. It can be clear and have an 'oily/greasy' feel to it.

Adam,

Have you had a careful look at the clutch master cylinder behind the drivers side bulkhead? Mine went and leaked brake fluid which confused me for a while as I thought it was moisture from the aircon to start with but it didn't evaporate.