I have looked at 3 different C-3's. All showed signs of transmission line or power steering line weeping. Each time the owner would say something like"It's an old car and all old cars weep or sweat a little."Or " it's from being not driven alot " All said that this was not uncommon. Is this in fact a common occurence or is it something I should be concerned about.

 

maybe just an o-ring....the trans cable is easy to fix ( i had that issue)..... just some teflon tape should fix most of the issues...

 

sweating is when you know something is leaking and are not sure of the cost of fixing it. Weeping is when you have to pay someone to fix it and see the final cost. Sorry that just came to me and had to put it out there.
It is comon on all old cars but only classics really get noticed. most old cars were driven that way and nobody ever cared about it. It is something that should be fixed as the issues arise.

 

"Weeping" of oil/fluid is the precursor to an "ooze"...which is a precursor to a "seep"....which then becomes a "leak". So, the only difference between a "weep" and a "leak" is the amount of fluid coming out.

It's a leak...just a small one. And whenever something is leaking that shouldn't be, it should be repaired. With age/time, some fittings become loose or exhibit a slight amount of wear that allows some small amount of leakage. You can try tightening up any fittings. But, if that doesn't solve your problem, new seals and/or hoses is in order.

Note: You can wait until the "weep" becomes an "ooze", "seep", or "leak"...but the fix is still the same. All you have saved is a little bit of time.

 

That was brilliant!

What my friends are trying to say is these guys are BS'ing you. It is not normal for a car to leak any fluid from a sealed system. However, it is understandable that a 40 year old car will need attention to almost every system on the vehicle. My advice to you is to look at the over all car condition. If you plan on getting a car you can work on then see if this is a project you can tackle.

My car sits in a clean garage. I am very aware of a constant leak in the p/s valve. I have the kit to fix it but not the time. It leaked oil till i changed the pan gasket and so forth.

Its almost a challenge to try and keep the floor dry.

 

a line that is "weeping" is basically an old line that has micro cracks throughout allowing whatever the fluids moving through it to "weep" out to the outer surfaces. regardless of what the line is for, it is an indication that that line needs to be replaced. it will eventually (if ignored) drain the fluid dry. if it is an a/c line you will not be able to keep the system charged for any length of time. years ago i had that "condition" on a 79 mercedes 450 sl i had owned for a long time. it was able to keep the a/c system usable for about 5 days before it required an additional shot of r12. one can would last another 5 or 6 days because the freon would leak out through the hose.

 

Thanks for the info.This forum is the bomb !!

 

Vettes don't leak, they are just marking their territory!

My '73 had been marking its spot with tranny fluid, but only after sitting for a couple of weeks. I figured it was payback for not driving it often enough. Turned out to be a bad o-ring on the dip stick tube.

DC

 

Boy, if you wanna see leaks, you should check out my farm tractors. Three John Deeres and an old Ford. It's a lot easier to dump in a quart of whatever than it is to split a tractor to replace a $5.00 seal. Of course, if I develop a leak on the '72 ragtop, it gets fixed right away.
Duane