Technical Difficult to find leak

I have a small leak ( need to find ) coming from either rear main seal, hydraulic cutch throw out bearing, or brake master cylinder. All too close together to see. I figured I would find three leak detector fluids and find it easily. Problem is there are only two colors available and they seem to be vaguely close in color. There is a third color but it is water based and useless to me . Any suggestions

 

Taste?

 

Just use the die in one at a time.

 

Brake/clutch fluid is water soluble so should be easy to rule out

 

And the loss of fluid (or lack of loss) from the master cylinders would show where the problem was.

 

The taste test will tell ya !!!!!!!!

 

I had a friend that was addicted to brake fluid......... But he said he could stop anytime.

 

Warning, don’t taste too much of the brake fluid. It’ll stop you up.

 

Wash it good under there and see where it leaks.

 

Cheborneck
Come here
(What)
What that
(I don't know)…

 

Had a buddy that did that one time... Got a wicked rash on the inside of his mouth that wouldn't go away... without Penicilin. His finger damn near fell off, too!

 

... good thing we didn't step in it...

 

I gave up on mine for now. I believe it is oil pan related. I put in an extra valve cleaner breather so I'll see if it helps. 2x a year I wash the bottom of the car with Simple Green. Eventually I will have to pull the engine, for now I call the car The Exxon Valdez.

 

Are your hydraulic clutch and brake master cylinder levels gradually declining? They shouldn't unless there's a leak in the closed system.

Whereas it's tougher to tell if your engine is leaking or just burning/consuming a bit of oil when looking at the dipstick.

Other than the taste taste, brake fluid has a distinct acidic odor compared to petroleum oil.

 

Used engine oil usually has a hydrocarbon smell, would be darker than clean hydraulic oil, and would be hot if just run. The hydraulic oil stays pretty clean, and depending on location, usually not hot. Brake fluid has a different viscosity and smell than oils and washes off with water. If you only use one dye color, pick one of the two oils to test.

 

This ^^^

Also it feels different and dries out your skin.

 

This likely only works on traditional fluids? I hear that fluids since 1965 might kill you...

 

Brake M/C level declines over time as the fluid compensates for pad and shoe wear.

 

What engine are talking about? It could be leaking at the rear of the intake manifold. Chrysler 360 engines of certain years were notorious for leaking at that point. Lay some white paper on the floor under the bell housing after driving and leave it overnight. The color of the drip will give you a hint as to what leaks. More info needed.

 

Sounds stupid but works. Hose it off good and spray with Right Guard deoderant.
The white film left behind makes it easy to trace leakage.

 

How to taste fuel..

 

I heard it kills millions of brain cells though.............

 

^^^^^^^^Just pokin fun at ya MO...

I gave up my brain cells to alcohol.........it tastes better too.

 

The hydraulic throwout bearing and master seal will leak in the same place

 

It's all brand new

 

This is a brand new build

 

Who doesn't remember that first time you tried siphoning petrol (gas) and copped a mouthful? I can still taste it 50 years later.

 

It probably tasted better with the lead in it back then!

 

Good point, I forgot about that! However, it would probably be much more gradual over months of pad wear compared to 24/7 leakage.