UH OH I'm leaking
 

I found a few drops of something under the car today on the garage floor. They were in a few different spots, but close together. I am assuming that it is leaking from the same spot. The fluid is barely yellow color. I checked the oil level, it is full, and it is relatively new oil. I smelled the oil on the dipstick, and it smelled, well like oil. I put some of the substance on my finger from the floor, and it felt quite thick, and didn't smell like engine oil. My fear is that it is transmission fluid. I put in a 6 speed tranny in my 85 VW Scirocco, and had to rebuild it once. The fluid in that tranny STANK. This substance doesn't really smell though. Is there an easy way to check the transmission fuid level in a 1993 5 speed? I have several problems with this. 1.) This is my first Maxima, so I only have a vague idea what I am looking at under there. 2.) I have only looked under the car, without it on a jack yet, but it isn't obvious where it is coming from. I put cardboard under it, and will look at it in the morning and see if I can pinpoint where it is coming from.

Thanx

Brian

It's not hard to check. Where are the drips directly under?

They appear to be coming from the area where the driver's side A-arm hooks to the frame, just forward of the sway bars.

Hmmm.

1) Could be tranny fluid leaking from the driver's side tranny output shaft seal(where the cv joint goes into the tranny)
2) Could be coolant leaking from the thermostat just above the tranny bellhousing(but you would see dried water stains on the top of the bellhousing also)

You are on the Eastside right? I'm in Newcastle

Also, I just tasted the fluid, and it doesn't really have a taste, especially not like engine oil. Along the lines of it may be tranny fluid, I have noticed while driving the car, the gear shift rod gets very warm if I slide the boot down the shaft, almost to the point of being hot.

Is there an easy way to tell the fluid level of the transmission on a manual?

The shifter gets hot because it's right above the exhaust. To check the tranny fluid level, you need to take out the fill plug. It's the big one with the square hole, front side of tranny, near the driver's side end. With the car level, the fluid should be level with the bottom of the hole. However, most gear oils are pretty smelly, so I'd suspect what Jeff said - check for a leaky thermostst housing or some other coolant line. There's another one just under the throttle body which provides warm air to the intake. Good luck.

Yes, gear oil stinks real bad....isn't most gear oil red also?

Only on Auto's, it's basically hydraulic fluid (red)..conventional petroleum manual oil looks like engine oil clean, I'm not sure about synthetic manual trans oils..I have redline in mine, but I didn't put it in myself, so I don't know.

The leaking fluid looks like clean engine oil. I put synthetic in my VW, and it REALLY stank, worse than auto fluid! It about made me puke putting it in. The synthetic tranny fluid was a very dark color as well. It looks like tonight I'll be jacking it up, and checking the tranny fluid level, especially to see what color, texture, smell, and taste it is, to compare it to the fluid in the floor. If it isn't tranny fuild, then I am at a loss as to what it is. The oil in the engine is relatively clean, but it has been in for almost 2,000 miles, and wouldn't be as clean coming out as the stuff on my floor. My radiator fluid is a dark green color.

I got under the car, and took a look around where the oil was dripping, A better portion of the very bottom of the differential housing was cover with whatever is dripping, as well as a few drops of radiator fluid. The actual oil drip is coming from the split in the dif housing. There is however a path of oil, and dirt (nothing definitive) coming from the output shaft on the driver's side of the dif. This doesn't look conclusive yet since once you have oil coming from somewhere, especially under the car, the wind can move it in all sorts of weird places. I cleaned off the entire area, and will now watch it carefully to see if it is coming from the output, or the diff housing split. Either way I figure it is in my best interest to check the transaxle fluid level, and more than likely add some.

Thank you for all your help