2006 manual transmission. 152K miles
Hi all. I have been racking my brain trying to understand what this fluid is. I know most of you are going to say coolant, but please read my diagnosis. A few weeks ago, my car got snowed in and I had to dig it out. In this process, I had to put the car under a bit more stress than normal. Nothing crazy, I kept the traction control on and just rocked it back and forth for a while until it came free. When I left my parking spot, I noticed a spots of green fluid down the middle of the parking spot. I thought immediately, coolant and checked my temperature gauge and it was fine plus I had the right amount in my coolant reservoir, between min and max. I let it run for a few minutes to see if I could generate the leak again and could not. I put down some white paper under the car under the engine bay and rev'ed it to 4,000 rpm and I could not generate any leaking. I thought maybe it's clutch fluid, I depressed the clutch several times, no problems. Granted, the car was not in gear when I did my test. I have been driving it 2 weeks later and no problems. There's a lot of snow where I live and I have not seen any more fluid leak while sitting idle in the snow.
The coolant in the system is from the factory since I have never done a coolant flush (maybe overdue), but when I open the reservoir tank, it's a dark blue fluid, almost like windshield washer fluid but much darker. Yes, I am sure this is my reservoir and not the washer fluid tank .

Was I really leaking coolant or could this be something else?

 

Well it wouldn't be coolant, because as you saw its blue. That is the Honda/Acura factory color, so don't be troubled. Not real sure what the green fluid could be... was there a lot of it? For sure though, its time to change the timing belt and water pump... 152k is dancing with the devil.

 

Any chance said fluid was there BEFORE you parked it..?

 

clutch fluid is brake fluid. DOT 3, and its not green.

so, that's not it.

also, if it hasnt happened again, I wouldnt worry about it.

 

thoiboi might be onto something

 

Thanks for your response. Yes, you're right about the timing belt deal. Just need to find the time lol. I wouldn't say there was a lot of it, as in, it didn't pool in any area. Just little drips down the center as I pulled my car out of the parking spot. I would say a total of 15 drip spots. I did a search for the transmission fluid for a manual on this car and it is in a green bottle, so that's something! http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/121134543894?lpid=82&chn=psI am relieved it isn't a coolant problem. Those are difficult to track down and you usually end up replacing parts you don't need to trying to find the damn leak.

 

Definitely something to ask, but it's definitely from my car as the snow wasn't there before I parked it before a blizzard.

 

transmission oil would also not be green.

 

Not sure what it was, but if you only had ~15 drops, cannot reproduce it, and all fluid levels are fine, I wouldn't worry about it in the least.

 

How's your air conditioning, I know some of the air conditioning oil they use have a florecent green color to them.

 

That had me thinking! Don't those A/C leak type things also come in florescent green to detect leaks in your air conditioning. If not the oil, have you had any issues with your refrigerant / A/C system leaking? Maybe that undue stress on your car caused a small leak in the system?

 

The refrigerant is colorless AFAIK, but you'd be right in saying those leak spotting type things () come colored... and often in neon green. Maybe his A/C system was previously patched by someone, may it be him or a previous owner.