Red Fluid leak

Hi All, I have a 2000 silverado z71 w 5.3l and roughly 80k miles. I have an intermittent leak on the driver side leaking red fluid. I have only noticed a small puddle (quarter size) on the ground twice. I checked trans and PS fluid, both are topped up.

I then crawled under there and found, pardon my lack of vocabulary, some fluid on the bottom of the steering. It's right where the tie rod connects to another steel bar that goes to the other side and connects to the other tie rod. I am not sure what the name of that piece is but there's a small rubber boot at the tie rod and on the steel bar, right next to that boot there's fluid on the bottom only. I cannot find any other leaks above this point. That rubber boot looked to be ok but it is swollen and was curious if that has some sort of red fluid or if it uses grease. I didn't see a zerk fitting there so any help is appreciated.

TIA

Reply to
genius
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Sounds like Transmission fluid, Does it smell the same? (seriously) It could be dripping from the oil cooler lines that go to the radiator down to the tie-rod ends. GM likes to put fancy plastic covering on the aluminum plumbing so it could be traveling inside that.

The only grease I know that is red and can run when Hot is the old Cam2 stuff. but that?s wheel bearing grease and shouldn?t really be in the tie-rod ends.

Cheers

Reply to
Martin Riddle

Sounds like trans fluid leaking out of a cooling line and dripping onto the tie rod connection with the drag bar.

Reply to
Steve W.

Thanks for the info. I just assumed that since the trans cooler lines were on passenger side and this is on driver side, directly under PS pump it was PS fluid. Will crawl back under there and look laterally. It does make sense though since the top of the drag bar was dry directly above the drips.

If it is a trans line, would be be better to just get an aftermarket cooler and bypass the radiator trans cooler all together since I'll have the lines off anyways? My dad had an old buick that puked trans fluid into the radiator when the internal cooler leaked.

Reply to
genius

The easy way to find the leak is also a bit goofy.,,

First take the truck to a car wash. Wash the engine bay down and get all the crud off under it as well.

Now visit the store and buy some flour or baby powder. Now with the engine dry and clean dust areas where leaks are suspected.

Start the engine and drive around some. Come back and look at the powder. It will be damp and colored where the leaks are and due to the way capillary action works will almost point you directly at the leaks. Don't be shocked if you find seepage that you never knew about.

I like to take pictures of the leaks then hose the stuff off and repair them.

Reply to
Steve W.

It's most likely a small leak in the power steering pump, the hose connections to the pump, or the power steering box. As to the aftermarket cooler for the transmission, ... you won't be fixing anything by doing that, you'll still have to fix the current leak if it's in the cooler lines.

Reply to
Ashton Crusher

UPDATE: I finally took the truck into mechanic after being unable to find = the leak myself. The inner tie rod end boot has a slight crack in it, prob= ably due to age. The red grease in the joint supposedly can liquefy and lo= ok/feel just like PS or trans fluid. He told me not to worry about it but = clean the joint off really well and check it every oil change . Worst case= , just add a pump of grease in there every couple years since truck is hard= ly ever driven. This does make sense as to why there was only a leak on th= e bottom of the inner tie rod boot and not anywhere else. Thanks to all wh= o posted.

Reply to
genius

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