Some car enthusiasts are fastidious about maintenance. If a door handle is squeaking, they’ll be right on the job, repairing it. Some are happier to let the small stuff slide, while others will let their cars fall to pieces before their very eyes. In that regard, I ask you a question. How bad does a leak have to be before you’ll consider fixing it?
Obviously, this is something that can change greatly depending on the fluid involved. If your vehicle is leaking gas, like Gossin’s pickup, you might want to fix that immediately. Similarly, a loss of brake fluid might spur you to immediate action. But not all leaks are so disastrous. A slow oil leak can weep for months or years without causing too much trouble. Similarly, losing a little coolant here and there might not require you to immediately throw the car on jack stands to perform restorative repairs.
I myself land on the lazier side when it comes to leaks, but I do so in an educated fashion. If my car is losing coolant at a rapid rate, where I’m routinely seeing ounces of fluid on the driveway, I’ll probably get to it on the next free weekend I have. If it’s losing quarts, I’m probably not driving it anywhere unless I really need some KFC.
Oil, I’m even more lackadaisical about. But that’s for good reason—for oil leaks are often quite slow. I’ve had a ton of cars that burn a little oil, or leak some out of the valve cover seals. This is rarely a big problem. I’ll just top up the oil with a half-a-quart or so every three months, and the car will run just fine. Sure, I could pull the intakes off and all the wiring and spark plug leads and spend hundreds of dollars on new seals, but… why? I rarely have any free time as it is. I’d rather spend $20 on a liter of oil a few times a year and enjoy driving instead of tedious wrenching jobs with little benefit. Plus, the driveway stains come up easy with some dishwashing liquid.
This topic comes to mind because of my beloved Audi TT. It’s currently leaking power steering fluid, and doing so at a frustrating rate. It’s only losing maybe a shot glass or two a month. However, that’s enough to drop it below minimum on the dipstick, and it gets the power steering pump whining like a city bus in cold weather. I don’t want to spend big money on replacing the pump, so I’m trying to keep it topped up.
The problem I have is that this is likely not an easy fix. Maybe I’m lucky and it’s just a weeping fitting or hose. But more likely it’s a rack seal that’s gone, or even fatal wear to the rack itself. That’s big money and big labor, because it’s a job I don’t have space to tackle myself.
So basically, I’m getting by with occasional top-ups once again, even on my dream car. But what say you—how bad does a leak have to get before you’ll fix it?
Image credits: Lewin Day
The never-been-rebuilt Ford-o-matic transmission in my ’64 F100 coach-built crewcab that has about 350k miles on it. It leaks steadily, but slowly, and I have a drip pan under the parking place. I tend to forget that is leaks until shifting becomes sluggish, and then I remember to check and fill. When I get serious about restoring the truck, both the never-been-rebuilt engine (292) and transmission will be rebuilt.
Depends on the fluid leaking and how much and also if it is new or not. If the vehicle is brand new (or close to) it shouldn’t be leaking at all but 25+ years old there will be leaks. If it is just some small drips of trans fluid, oil or coolant that is fine if it is leaking fuel though I would fix that right away. Though my firebird is leaking a bit of oil and I would need to pull the engine at some point and re-seal the oil pan as I would like to track the car at some point.
On a new car, I care about every leak no matter how small. Get that fixed while it’s under warranty.
On a middle aged car, I care about every leak but if it’s minor I might put off fixing it for awhile.
On an old car, I generally don’t care unless it’s leaking fast enough that I’m worried about taking it long distances, or leaking enough to regularly leave stains on the floor. These are two different thresholds. Like you say, small brake fluid leaks are still worrying.
Drips ignored:
Our Fozz – which burned enough oil to merit a new block years back – has had a front half shaft seal leak almost since new (12 yrs). Dealer did nada. It keeps the driver-side half-shaft coated & rust free.
The engine also has had a drip, from a joint in the pass. side head assy. Poor design, & it drips on the cat. After repeated warnings from my mechanic, I added a wire to direct the drip away. Stinks at times, and is leaving little puddles on the garage floor now.
Most recent: steering rack has fluid on the d/s boot. That’s a wipe-and-watch for sure.
Meantime, 11y.o. Honda Fit burns not a drop & has no drips, but has some valve tick now and pukes up spark plugs.
Sigh.
My 10 year old Fit works perfectly, but I’m practically OCD about its maintenance and any repair (which has been pretty much none). So if it does have an issue, I’d likely be on it immediately.
I gather yours is a second gen, as the spark plug is a known issue. Mine is third gen, had the starter replaced under extended warranty, and I’m holding my breath about the injectors.
Yes, 2nd gen.
i’m very attentive to my cars (300k, 24 y.o. volvo), but i figured a simple 4 cylinder was a pretty well sorted engine, esp. for Honda. i was wrong.
and subaru is a whole ‘nother kettle of fish. good awd, but much is subpar.
Bahahahahahaha
I had a 2002 VW Beetle turbo S fall into my possession for scrap price. It is an identical 180hp drive train to front drive Audi TT with 6 speed,replaced valve cover gasket that leaked into spark plug wells, not sure how many components are different on your 4wd 225hp TT, but want to warn you that mine developed an almost imperceptible leak(replaced master twice, kept topped up, shares reservoir with brakes!) in the hydraulic line to clutch slave cylinder which then failed, and the bugger is internal, requiring trans. drop, replace the contaminated friction disc,new pressure plate, new slave cylinder.
Another cautionary tale is the 6 speed linkage at the shifter base can become detached due to a cheap plastic washer/grommet backed by a too small metal washer. Do some research to see what preemptive measures are warranted.
Depends on how easy it is to identify the source and solution.
I have an MGB, so leaks are a given. Luckily Amazon is always shipping me new cardboard boxes to break down and put under it. It actually doesn’t really leak all that much… it burns much more oil than it leaks.
I used to go to a local annual “concourse” car show in the park. Cars parked up and down the grass. Never failed that in the weeks after the show there were dead spots all over the place in the old British roadster area. It was remarkably consistently the case.
The leaks just show you that the fluids are still in there! When it stops leaking, though….
If it’s dripping, I’ll address is asap. Otherwise, (like just a stain around a gasket) it’s probably not enough to matter.
try the high mileage power steering fluid. It has conditioners that can help close up leaks. I used it on my wifes Vue and its fluid never dropped an inch afterwards (for like 60k miles after). Worth a try.
I generally go by whether the fluid is reaching the ground or not. If it’s seeping all over the engine but not leaving any drips or smoking when the engine is hot, I just let it vibe. Once I get drops or puddles on the ground, that’s when it’s time to fix it.
I learned my limit about a year ago. The wife’s Sienna sprouted a power steering fluid leak on one of the rusty lines. I nursed it along by adding fluid until it became a weekly thing, so I bit the bullet and ordered new lines. They actually went in easier than expected.
I’m more concerned with the environmental impact than impact to my car. I did a quick drain and fill of coolant and was horrified that as the last bit drained, it dribbled along some frame pieces and I didn’t capture it. I don’t want some critter to sip up sweet, sweet coolant and die a painful horrific death. I also seem to make a mess when doing the fiddly process on ATF where I have to take a wheel off, while the car is running at operating temp to take out a fill plug to let the excess dribble all over the place. Let’s say I’m a messy amateur, but I keep floor dry manufacturers in business.
hell yes, that’s the ATF level testing process on my old Malibu. FTW.
All the memes about engineers hating mechanics is that damned thing. And my transmission apparently is prone to overheating so I do this procedure once a year, and hate it every time.
Man, that gas leak was no fun!
That S-10 now has a new tank and pump and is for sale.
The rescue is complete, but boy did I ever have to work for it and sweat it out for a hot, dangerous, gas-filled moment there.
“how bad does a leak have to get before you’ll fix it?”
Depends on the vehicle, whether it’s truly fixable and how much it will cost.
Some old vehicles will always leak at least a bit by design.
Sidenote: This is one reason why I’m personally biased against owning a classic car.
But on a modern vehicle like my Honda Fit, there should be no leaks. And fixing leaks is typically not an expensive thing on a Fit.
” Sure, I could pull the intakes off and all the wiring and spark plug leads and spend hundreds of dollars on new seals, but… why?”
Maybe so you won’t be polluting the environment with with power steering fluid, perhaps?
Consider… would you want to drink water mixed with power steering fluid?
Depends. How much power steering fluid are we talking? Assuming it’s mostly new fluid due to leak.
Just the other day I was thinking of how there used to be fluid stains in every parking space wherever you went, but now it’s kind of rare. Thank you for the improvement, automotive industry.
We’re about to find out.
My wife’s 2013 Sienna V6 has developed the dreaded externally weeping head gasket, which drops coolant down the outside of the engine, but does not get in to the cylinders. The dealer said to leave it for now, which is good, because to fix the head gaskets, you have to drop the engine. Book rates I have read put the job between 23.5 and 25 hours of labour. Plus parts.
This might be a job for Bar’s Leaks. Pricing newer Siennas (or any vehicle) right now is a painful exercise.
Bar’s Leak and Alumaseal saved my ass back in the day.
I’ve had great results using Bar’s Leaks golden seal root. GM installed it at the factory in certain Saturns—and it’s much less likely to clog up your heater core than the black tar ball type
Well, it’s my wife’s car, so…
(George Thorogood voice)…uh lemme go ask my wife….
I could see it in his face
I know that it was no
She kinda funny, you know 😉
Ev’rybody funny…
Now you funny too. ????
My BMW was “using oil” at an increasing rate. I figured that at 95k miles that wasn’t out of reason. When I noticed that the oil filter housing was dripping onto the serpentine belt, I got right on it, haven read more than a few instances where the N54 engine was destroyed by the belt getting oily, flipping off the pulleys and being sucked into the crankshaft seal and stopping the oil pump.
Replacing that and tackling the typically leaking oil pan and replacing one turbo cartridge seems to have stopped, or at least greatly reduced the rate of oil consumption. And, my garage floor no longer resembles the Le Brea Tar Pits.
Yes, immediate fix. I consider AC condensation drips suspect and need further investigation.
Like others, it depends upon fluid and quantity.
My 20 year old Lexus has a minor valve cover leak which makes it stink like burned oil after sitting for 3+ days, but no drips on the ground so I’ll fix that when I finally get around to replacing the (notorious) cracked 2UZ exhaust manifolds in a year or two (which I’ve been saying for at least five years).
My project car has a significant rear main seal leak, to the tune of probably half a quart per month. Both valve cover gaskets are also leaking, so combined I have significant oil drops on my driveway and a stinky startup (on every startup), so I am actively deliberating between pulling the transmission and transfer case to replace the rear main seal or pull the engine and do all the gaskets and replace timing chain guides at the same time (the guides are almost impossible to do without pulling the engine). I don’t need to do the guides right now, but it’s a two birds, one stone scenario.
Well, my GMT400 Suburban was leaking a gallon of oil every 100 miles – and I still took it on a 200 mile round trip to pick up a great deal on a car I really wanted. Plenty of oil in reserve, fire extinguisher at the ready, etc. I did not drive it anywhere else prior to fixing it though. So, uh, I guess about a quart every 25 miles is my limit, lol.
After my experience with a coolant leak in my truck I won’t put those off just because they’re slow. Mine turned out to be a water pump going bad and when it went it dumped a bunch of coolant on my garage floor. Fortunately, this happened literally the same day I took it in to get fixed so it worked out. Could have been disastrous if it happened the weekend before when I took a 12 hour road trip to the middle of nowhere.
The oil leak is not getting fixed unless it gets dangerously bad though. I got a quote on fixing it and it was in the mid four figures because it’s a cab-off service. I just tossed an old door mat under it and called it good.
For most things it has to be pretty bad, but there is definitely a ratio of danger/cost to repair/ likelihood of damage. My rear seal on my transfer case leaks pretty bad, but it’s because at 410k miles the slip yolk bushing is all but gone. Given the cost and amount of work it would be to fix it, (another case at this point,) I’ll just keep adding another quart of fluid at every oil change.
I classify leaks into two categories:
If it won’t do either of the above, let it ride until the messes it leaves annoy you enough to fix it.
For me its a quality of life discussion. Brakes and fuel? Not stopping or bursting in to flame have large impacts on my quality of life (and mere continuance of life) so I tend to fix those asap. From there its just a question of will ignoring the issue piss me off more than fixing the issue will piss me off? Usually equals ignore the issue