this green stuff cant be good?

johnbird · Post by **johnbird** » Mon Jan 03, 2011 2:17 pm

did a few bits on the bx this morning.took my daughter to her friends and jacked the car up to normal ride height to get off the drive as it was sat at its lowest setting.had to raise it one notch to clear the hump of the drive as i returned.set the car at normal ride height when i parked. i was working on the saab when i noticed the bx dripping green-guessing its lhm?-fluid.its coming from what appears to be the back of the gearbox? possibly around the rear of engine? im no expert but its not good?
any ideas? how much can it lose before its fatal? i have to go to work in it tomorrow! is the pic i took in the engine bay the level indicator and where i fill it please?

johnbird · Post by **johnbird** » Mon Jan 03, 2011 2:37 pm

forgot to say,the first pic is upside down! sorry but i dont know how to turn it around,john.

richardd1652 · Post by **richardd1652** » Mon Jan 03, 2011 2:43 pm

There are some pretty crappy plastic return pipes running at the back of the engine bay along the subframe which i have had trouble with in the past,1 blew off its connector piece and dumped green blood all over my drive.It was a simple fix as they just push back in.Think i put a tiny clip round mine to stop it doing it again.
Hope this helps Richard.

nige · Post by **nige** » Mon Jan 03, 2011 3:05 pm

as above you will probably dind one of the return pipes dropped off, if its a black one cut it back half an inch and slide back on again. I had probs a few years ago with mine blowing pipes all over the show - due to excessive pressure, this was fixed with new spheres. If it is one of the pipes thats dropped off you will see the STOP light on the dashboard, when this happens its probably time to think about stopping soon, there is a bit in reserve but when it goes - it all goes! - steering, brakes suspension!

rmattila · Post by **rmattila** » Mon Jan 03, 2011 3:36 pm

There are a number of pipes and unions that can leak LHM so that it ends up dripping from the bottom of the differential housing. If I were you, I would lift the front end on supports and crawl underneath while the engine is idling and try to locate where the stuff is actually coming from. (Even pipes away from the engine can produce such dripping, if there is a pinpoint hole and a spray jet directed towards the engine..)

The rate of leak is essential in order to estimate how rapidly the situation will become fatal.

kiwi · Post by **kiwi** » Mon Jan 03, 2011 6:08 pm

Hard to tell from the photos the exact offending pipe. Without saying it could be the..... when it maybe the.....

One thing I noted you said

jacked the car up to normal ride height to get off the drive as it was sat at its lowest setting

Does this mean you keep moving that lever about putting it to the low when not in use rather than letting the BX settle naturally? If so then all that wiggling may well accelerate any leakage from the heavy flow of fluids back to the reservoir as you depressurise the car because thats what your doing mving that lever to low depressurising.

Leak location is best done with cleaning the air but BEWARE of high pressure water blasting on weak rubber pipes you may well break some more. And also leaks tend to travel.

johnbird · Post by **johnbird** » Mon Jan 03, 2011 6:18 pm

hi,thanks for the suggestion about moving the height lever.never gave it a thought till now.i set the car to its lowest setting on the drive as i wanted to take some pictures of it and i think it looks best on the low setting.i put it up to the highest setting whilst i pressure washed all the salt from under it and then lowered it down again.i guess thats a good pressure change?
when i dropped my daughter off earlier i raised the car to its standard ride height and pulled out the drive.as with most of our cars it just scraped something in the middle.not a big deal.when i got home i raised the car one notch to make sure it didnt scrape again.
maybe my best bet is to clean off all the old leaked fluid and stop messing around with the ride height? it was the novelty of it got the better of me. it definitely leaks quicker if i jack it up to its highest setting. it did 15 miles without running out of fluid and the hiss sound for the pump is not on and off all the while so it cant be that bad i guess? thanks, john.