Car leaking pinkish fluid?

[FullthrottleGST]

Wasted my money on a new valve cover gasket cus i thought it was leaking from there. but when i took a good look at the fluid leaking onto the groud, it turns out to be pinkish. what fluid is that? i searched a read some about power steering fluids are pink, but im still unsure what it is. so what can be leaking?

 

[Denji]

radiator fluid is sometimes reddish (certain brand i think) ..maybe you have that in your car?

 

[FullthrottleGST]

it must be that because when i checked it today and it was almost all empty but just didnt think that they make pink fluids for that.

 

[bhop]

"radiator fluid is sometimes reddish (certain brand i think) ..maybe you have that in your car?"

Never heard of that.. it's always been greenish yellow since I was a kid back in the 70's... unless you've been running only water in it and the radiator rusted inside, then it could possibly be pinkish from the rust.

Here's a link that may help:

auto fluid puddles

edit: Ok, I looked up red coolant and got a response of something called "DexCool". Apparently it's organic, and is an orange-ish red color, and in some cars, comes from the factory from General Motors cars.

 

[HokieDSM]

Coolant comes in all different shades and colors. Why? No idea... but mine's always been greenish.

Power steering fluid is red/pinkish. Check to see if your pump is leaking, or check your reservior to see if its low. I accidentally overfilled mine and it leaked all over.

How thick is the fluid? If its thick, then it could possibly be gear oil - my Redline Shockproof oil I've got in my transfer case & rear end are both very pinkish - but also pretty thick, looking almost like yogurt-like consistency.

Let us know what you find out.

 

[yoshimitsuspeed]

Power steering fluid and automatic trans fluid are both red. They have a very oily feel to them.
Antifreeze can be red too but it will be more watery. It will still have a bit of an oily feel but it will feel more like water with a little oil in it.
If ya got the balls stick it in your mouth. If it's kinda sweet it's antifreeze, if it tastes like a$$ it's not.
Fill up your coolant resivore and find out if yours is red or green. Check the power steering fluid level, if it's auto check the ATF level.

Where is it coming from? for example front passengers side of the motor, rear drivers side ect.

I had my PS resivoire crack where a line goes into it. that caused a pretty good mess.

 

[FullthrottleGST]

How thick is the fluid? If its thick, then it could possibly be gear oil - my Redline Shockproof oil I've got in my transfer case & rear end are both very pinkish - but also pretty thick, looking almost like yogurt-like consistency.

The fluid is not thick almost like water with a little oily to it like what yoshimitsuspeed said. so it can be the antifreeze. but thing is that its not even dripping near the radiator or anything.

Where is it coming from? for example front passengers side of the motor, rear drivers side ect.

when i looked under the car, its like a few inches away from the oil filter(just bought the car and i think thats what it is), its not dripping from the filter but close to it. so its close to the front driver side.

 

[Slipstream]

power steering pump is close to there...how's the ps fluid level?

 

[HokieDSM]

Sounds like power steering fluid - if it were in the center or towards the passenger side I'd say check your radiator hoses - but in that area, the only thing that would be leaking that kind of fluid would be the PS system.

 

[Ethanthegod9]

I don't think that any DSM should be using DEXcool (the red antifreeze). I was always under the impression that all DSM came with green coolant and it is not a good thing to be changing around.

ATF (Auto Fluid) is strawberry color.
Power steering is also a red but usually a little darker.

if it is pink, it could be windshield washer fluid. Rain-x and bugoff both make pink (I mean really pink) windshield washer fluid.

I don't know if the resivior is over on that side of the car because I got my DSM with a CF hood and no washer system.

 

[Defiant]

I don't think that any DSM should be using DEXcool (the red antifreeze).

No vehicle on earth should be using that shit.

 

[FullthrottleGST]

ok i think it isssss the power steering fluid because i refilled the coolant reservoir and its not leaking anything green, still pinkish. i got a closer look today of where it is coming from, its leaking down like just an inch away from the belt on the bottom(duno is it the timing belt)? where can it be leaking from?

 

[leet]

No vehicle on earth should be using that shit.

Agreed. Since we switched over to it here at work our engines run at least 10 degrees hotter.

 

[yoshimitsuspeed]

Check my gallery there is a picture for you. There isn't much right where your talking about but both the pump and resivoir are above there so you will probably hve to trace the leak upward. There is also a line that goes to the cooler in front. Maybe it is spraying over to the belts. I am in a hurry now so I will post another pic later.
Hope this helps.

Alright the other ones there.
These are my best ideas. If not maybe you can use the pics to show us where the fluid is.