thaeleelyr

At the risk of showing myself to be a dolt, can someone identify what this is, how difficult it is to change, and what kind of fluid it takes?
When changing the struts, I noticed this leak on the front driver's side wheel (picture taken looking at the wheel well). There is a pan of some kind under it. I am planning to change the tranny fluid out soon (right after this job), which, I'm pretty sure, is not here. When I asked a local mechanic about it, he claimed it looks like part of the transmission (but didn't know). He didn't think it was oil from my leaking valve covers (also on the big list).

Does this gasket need to be put on the change-out list while doing the transmission fluid or is this a different beast altogether? Does anyone have instructions as to how to replace this? I'm presuming I have to tackle this from the wheel well, but are there any precautions to take in terms of engine/axle support because it looks like I have to take a big bracket off to get to it.

Thanks!

salimshah

I do not see the dry line above the wet spot. Your leak may be higher up. Clean it up and keep an eye. If you want me to guess, I would say it is the valve cover gasket that is leaking and it is higher up.

Also you need to view it from another angle (photos are 2 dimensional).

Salim

thaeleelyr

Thanks Salim! The neighbor guy took a look up and he didn't think it was from the valve cover gaskets. I plan on giving everything a good clean-up, so I'll do as you suggest. Just for my own edification, can you tell what it is from the picture?

Thanks!

salimshah

I cant tell what is leaking as the oil seems to be coming from above. I gave you my best guess.

Remember the point from where the oil drips is just the place where gravity wins over surface tension.

You will have to remove the air intake and look from the top.

Salim

thaeleelyr

Thanks, I didn't mean could you tell from the picture what the leak is as you already specified you couldn't without another angle. I meant can you tell what the metal thing is that has the oil on it. There appears to be a drain pan under it when I look from the bottom. I'm just trying to correctly ID what is in the picture out of curiosity since the oil pan is on the other side.