Looking for X 1/9 mechanical expert (in their minds or others) in Orange County, Ca.

tvmaster said:
a combo of brake and clutch fluid overflowing into the cowel and down the drains
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1. Brake and clutch use the same fluid. And it peels paint.
2. The cowl has drains, and they don't lead into the frunk.
More likely poorly closed container of (oil? brake fluid? coolant?) carried in the frunk; then cleaned up inside.
When these cars were new, oil still came in cans that couldn't be resealed; a lot more oil used to be spilled!
 
Jefco said:
1. Brake and clutch use the same fluid. And it peels paint.
2. The cowl has drains, and they don't lead into the frunk.
More likely poorly closed container of (oil? brake fluid? coolant?) carried in the frunk; then cleaned up inside.
When these cars were new, oil still came in cans that couldn't be resealed; a lot more oil used to be spilled!
Click to expand...
Ah, now we’re getting somewhere. So the windshield cowls don’t drain to those three outlets on vehicles underside, one of which i’ve circled? If the cowls don’t drain here, where do they drain to, as the frunk drains seem up near the front, behind the headlights, no?
 
They are tubes that come out behind the wheel wells; the passenger side inlet is under the brake reservoir.
58A9AE7C-2414-43E3-BAC6-657A626486E1.jpg

At the pink arrows.
 
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ng_randolph said:
The cowl drains are circled in red in the photo below:


View attachment 37690
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Wow, that’s a great photo, thanks. So if the cowels drain to those two, tiny holes, what fluid would drain to the three holes, one of which I circled, just in front? Whatever it is, it looked like an oil-based product. If the brake or clutch cylinders were leaking, would their fluid show up in those three outlets?
 
All those three holes drain is any fluid that gets into the frunk. They are not designed to drain any of the cars fluids, so just from anything that leaks while carried in there or rain water that gets past the seals etc.
 
tvmaster said:
Wow, that’s a great photo, thanks. So if the cowels drain to those two, tiny holes, what fluid would drain to the three holes, one of which I circled, just in front? Whatever it is, it looked like an oil-based product. If the brake or clutch cylinders were leaking, would their fluid show up in those three outlets?
Click to expand...
Probably not, unless those cowl drain tubes were completely blocked, and it somehow overflowed into the frunk.

I think Jeff’s assessment is probably accurate — that someone at some point just spilled some oil or brake fluid or something else that they were transporting in the frunk, cleaned it up inside there, but didn’t clean it up on the underside of the car after it had seeped trough the rubber drain plug.

I would just pull the plug out, wipe it up thoroughly from the underside of the car, and keep an eye out in the future for anything unusual.

You should be popping your head under the car pretty frequently to check for any fluid leaks anyway, especially when you’re just first getting the car running and assessing it.

it’s not unusual to find some oil and/or some transmission fluid weeping under the engine and trans due to old engine seals and trans gaskets, which will need to be addressed sooner than later. But hopefully it will only be a small amount. If you’re just finding a few drops here and there, you probably have some time. If you see the entire engine bay sprayed with a mist of oil every time you drive, you should probably approach it with more urgency.

I pretty sure if anything is leaking up front it would be related to coolant or brake fluid. As I mentioned, the plastic brake fluid reservoir can get old and brittle and start to crack and ooze fluid. So worth keep an eye on that as well.
 
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