Knowing the colors of the different fluids in your automobile is a good thing. This helps you to understand what might be leaking out of your car, truck, or utility vehicle if you see fluid spots on your garage floor. This isn’t full-proof, however, because some of your car’s fluids are the same color. Still, Car Doctors Auto Repair is going to give you an automotive fluid color guide below.
Essential Fluids
Let’s divide the fluids into two categories. Essential fluids are automotive fluids that your vehicle should not be driven without. In other words, if your automobile is leaking these fluids excessively, it could be dangerous and you might cause damage if you continue to drive your car, truck, or UV. Here is a list of essential automotive fluids and what their colors normally are:
- Brake fluid is light brown to dark brown
- Coolant is blue, green, bluish-green, orange, red, or yellow
- Gear oil is light brown to dark brown
- Motor oil is light brown to dark brown
- Power steering fluid is red
- Transmission fluid is bright red to dark brown or pink and frothy
Anytime you drive with low levels of these fluids you run the risk of creating problems from which you may not be able to get out from under. For example, let’s assume for a moment that your car is hemorrhaging motor oil. Once the oil is depleted, your motor will be destroyed in a timeframe that is less than 30 minutes. Another example is pink and frothy transmission fluid, which can seriously damage your transmission if you drive your automobile.
Non-Essential Fluids
Your car may also leak nonessential fluids. These fluids are helpful, but you won’t damage your automobile if you keep driving it. For example, if you see blue fluid leaking onto your garage floor, it is most likely that your automobile is leaking the cleaning fluid your windshield wipers use when you wash the windshield. You can keep driving your automobile if you are leaking windshield cleaner. The only downside to this is you won’t be able to clean your windshield while you are driving if you need to.
You might also notice clear spots on your garage floor. This is usually just condensation that has dripped from the air conditioner unit or out of your tailpipe. This condensation is something that happens normally, so you needn’t worry about it or feel as if you cannot drive your automobile.
For more information about car’s fluids leaks, call Car Doctors Auto Repair in Athens, GA. We are a full-service import auto shop with experts experienced in working on all vehicle makes and models.
