I'm pretty sure that I have a slight coolant leak coming from the front of my car. But I noticed today that it has an oily feel to it. Kind of like its oil and coolant mixed together. Its pinkish in color, but I'm sure if there is only a little bit of oil in it that it won't change color that much.

The second thing is that my alternator seems to be going. I'll be driving along and my volt meter will go down below 12 and then go back to around 14 just under 14 actually. I'm pretty sure its the Alternator. Would any of you know how much a replacement is going to run me at a dealer and how difficult a DIY would be.

 

as for the leak, you would have to be a little more specific. see if u can see anythingaround the engine bay. as for the alternator, it usually jsut dies completely. spray it with wd40 and check the wires.

 

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Yeah man... I don't know about the spraying it with WD40 idea. The coolant looks like coolant. Feels like oil.

 

Check the belt on the ALT and make sure its tight, sounds like it is slipping.

Coolant is supposed to be pink. If it had oil in it, it would appear cloudy.

 

looks like coolant and feels like oil seems like it's tranny oil. compare the smell to the coolant smell. sry wd40 is ma fav drink. yes i kno it's a penetrant but it has worked for me b4 so i just thought i'd throw it out there.

 

See.... the thing is, is that there is not enough coolant to tell if its cloudy. Its just dripping on the left bottom of the front bumper if you were looking at the car head on. Its not leaking a lot but my coolant level is droping slowly. I checked for leaks but couldn't find any, even with the belly pan off. As for the belt, how does one go about tightning such a thing.

 

do you have a tiptronic? The transmission cooler is built into the bottom of the radiator. If you cant find the leak, there is fluorescent dye that you can add that wil glow under black light, but a leak that big should be easy to find.

With regards to the voltage, it could be your gauge, the alternator, the voltage regulator, or the belts.

1. Check the battery and top up with the correct amount of distilled water.
2. Check the voltage at the battery, Should be approx 13.6V with the engine running.

3. Check that all connections are tight at the battery.

4. Check that the belts are tight

 

Just an update on the alternator. It seems to only happen when I'm not going very fast. When I'm on the highway it almost dead on 14. Its now starting to seem like its just the belt slipping. I might just get the belt changed and see what happends. I also find that the battery seems like its dead in the morning when its cold from not being charged properly.

 

You might have a bad voltage regulator on it, too.