2007 c6z06. car has been sitting for nearly a year. now there are drops of oil on the two press fittings visible in front of the spring on the drivers side (from below).

i cleaned the whole area pretty well and after driving the car new drops appeared, but i cant see how they get there. the ps pulley is dirty but not oily inside, the line running above the two fittings makes a downward turn, so it seems it would collect oil in a different area, the ps reservoir hose seems clean. any ideas where the oil might be comming from?

to add to my confusion, the left drop is reddish while the right drop seems clear. do i have two different oils dripping? the ps oil is pretty clear, my engine oil is black, what going on? optical illusion? (camera exaggerates red color.)

edit: these are oil lines, right? so if the fittings were loosing oil, it would be black. at least thats my reasoning.

 

I had a similar situation tracking leaks on those 2 oil cooler lines on my very low miles C6Z06 which sits most of the time and will allow for potential steering component leaks, possible, like on high mileage cars, due to inactivity.

I have 3 areas for you to look for potential rack/PS leaks:

One is the magnasteer wires on the rack that potentially could develop allow a leak. I posted on this thread below about what I did to strengthen the rubber seal area:

https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...rack-leak.html

2. The plastic PS reservoir can develop micro cracks that will allow fluid to weep from the reservoir, which is a common leak area with age from the plastic. I replaced mine with a custom aluminum welded one that I don't think is available any longer from True Focus Fabrication but you can just replace yours if it is leaking with a a GM plastic one. Tough to notice the leak.

3. My current leak is coming from the seal where the steering column connects to the rack and rotates with the steering column movement (turning). A piece of dirt must have slipped into the seal causing a drop ( 1 drop) after I drive, no active leaking, probably because the leak occurs after the seal cools off and contracts. I will have to pull the rack column cap off to remove the old seal and replace with a new one from the complete C6 rebuild kit I bought. Will do it on the car, BTW, when I get around to it...no rush.

 

The red fluid leakage looks like transmission fluid leakage to me. This fluid is sent to the radiator for heat rejection. My transmission oil looked pristine to me. Transmission oil also rejects heat from the differential to the radiator..

Transmission oil and differential oil should be replaced over time. In my experience this should occur every 24 months or sooner.

 

thank you so much.

but the more i read and look in there the more confused i get.

1) rack is absolutely clean, around the wires going in, on the bottom, everywhere.

2) area under reservoir is clean, input line is clean (going to the rad in my case), output line has some grime buit is "dry".

3) line above the two fittings going to the rack* is slightly oily, but as mentioned, it dont see how oil could get from there onto the fittings.

(*car has some "track-features", e.g. ps fluid going through the rad. i checked out the routing of the lines 5 years ago when i got the car, but am not absolutely sure now, which line is which.)

in the picture is the "red" drop on the left, my ps fluid in the middle and the coolant on the right (i almost started to think it might be the coolant dripping). so the right fitting might have ps fluid on it, while the left (red) one is a mystery. the closest thing avove the fittings is the idler pulley. that one cannot drip, can it?

from what i remember the trans oil goes to the rad on the other side of the car, but i will jack it up and check.

(the drops are too small to rub between fingers.)

 

i cleaned everything even more thoroughly (→1 can of brakecleaner), drove the car for 10 km, jacked it up right away and there were traces of oil in the ridges of the press fittings on the two oil lines. nothing anywhere else. so i guess the oil fittings are leaking. but both leaks occuring at the same time?

i will have a look tomorrow, if they leak when car is sitting.

 

Some of your drops look like coolant. Dex-Cool is orange. It's also kind of oily. Check the plastic T-fitting near the top of the radiator, check around the water pump, and check that the engine oil (left) and transmission fluid (right) fittings are firmly attached to the radiator end tanks.

 

so to wrap this up, this is probably whats been happening:

- car is used for the track and po had "red" psf in there.
- it boiled over and contaminated everything, especially the inside of the ribbed cable protectors around all oil lines.
- he subsequently went to routing psf through the rad.
- when cleaning, the red residue appeared on one fitting.
- the "amber" residue from another oil that apparently had collected in another place was on the other.

i have cleaned 7x now and even managed to insert a tiny tube into one of the hose protectors to flush the inside. no more psf anywhere, except the left engine oil line press fitting seems to be "sweating" a bit (tiny amounts of oil in the goove). its getting less and less, so maybe its going to go away (car has been sitting).

hopefully ill pass inspection on monday.

 

ther drop on the right is coolant (from the tank).