Red pool under supercharger (56k no)

Pooled up under supercharger (front side) is a red pool of liquid. I checked the supercharger oil level and its color and it is a yellowish (not sure what color this should be) and the coolant is a slight mixture of greenish and a darker color (im guessing two types were mixed. The red pool of liquid under the supercharger makes me wonder is the Supercharger some how cooled by the transmission lines in any way, or how is the supercharger cooled? The red in the pool of liquid could be rust im assuming but it is not a pool of oil either as I used mobil 1 that has a slight bronze color to it. What could this pool be?

The liquid doesn't taste sweet at all either.

The supercharger is not cooled by anything at all, especially not by any tranny lines. It could be anything though, the color of the liquid can be changed by any dirt or grime in the engine compartment. Take a flame to it and see if it lights, that should help in your diagnosis.

To be honest I'm not really sure what you're describing. Try and get us a picture of it if possible and just keep an eye on it, check to see if it gets bigger or smaller after letting it sit or driving it.

Heres some pics and flame test and pool of liquid.

The light portion of the flame test was some of the red liquid that didn't burn but was exposed to fire.

In the pool the puddle appears green, but when dipping a rag the color is red.

Pool of liquid

Enlarged view of pool of liquid so you can see where its at.


Before burn test

After burn test


As you can see after the burn test some of the red liquid remained on the rag non-burned even though it was on fire.

I think that the high temp gasket that is used is red and could be contributing the red color to this pool but I'm not entirely sure of what it is. I cleaned up what I could, and tried using a turkey baster to pull out the liquid but it wasn't getting enough vacuum so I stuck a bunch of rags in there and swirled them around with a screwdriver.

I stuck a mirror in there as well and didn't notice anything.

Are there any coolant passages that enter near this way or any form of liquid in this area that could be leaking?

It can be one of 3 things gas?antifreeze?oil? Isuspect it is AF and that would lead to a diagnosis of leaking LIM gaskets .Chico(pops)

Almost definitely it is Dex Cool. Looks like you need to buy some s/c and LIM gaskets for a personal Christmas gift...

you tasted it????


looks like coolant to me...

coolent, LIM gasket time,

Didn't the 04+ GP's come from the factory with the upgraded LIM gaskets installed?

LIM gasket already? bummer

It's comments like this that make me mad. People that don't contribute upset me.

It isn't dex cool because I checked what was in overflow tank, and what was in radiator cap, none of these matched it. Is there any explanation of what else could be there because at this point im highly doubting it is coolant.

That comment upsets you? Than don't post dude really you get the most offended at the smallest things people say.

It looks like the same pool where my LIM / UIM was leaking, and the gaskets need to be changed. It sucks.

Its gotta be coolant, no other fluids in the car are red besides the tranny and no way is tranny fluid going to get between the supercharger and Lim.

You need LIM gaskets.

Dont like my comment though its probably true, everyone and their brothers know that LIM gaskets fail on 3800's.

Like boosten said, doubt it all you want but theres no way its tranny fluid.

You are such a whiner about people not posting what you want to hear. It seems like you complain about everything. He was actually consoling you about needing LIM gaskets already.

Have fun replacing gaskets.

cannot be tranny. Tranny doesnt run that high up on the engine, or even in the bay. Tranny fluid doesnt even run through the engine at all. Rust, dex-cool or Prestone, water. Yep. i had all that on my block when my LIMs failed.

While you're at it, replace the blower coupling, inj o-rings, UIM gaskets, valve cover gaskets (if not the valve covers themselves), perhaps the rockers with rollers, and the PCV. Good luck.

No UIM rick, just a Gen 5 blower

you still have UIM gasket, dontcha? between the LIM and the blower? I'm more than fairly certain it aint a machine-fit.

It's normally called a supercharger gasket.

po-tay-toe, po-tah-toe. Yeah, that darn thing, darn it! lol.

And.....
It didn't burn when you took a lighter to it. If it were oil, or gas, or tranny fluid, or anything else really it would burn. Only coolant, which is water based and not petroleum based would not burn

I guess that's life. Anything can be happen. Any cars are not that perfect.

My summer car still leaking the oil for many years since I own that car in 2004. This repair guy told me not worth it to fix since it is very super slow leak. I never lost like quart or something like that. When I park my summer car for few weeks in garage covered at my mom's new house. I use the metal pan to slide under the car to keep the garage floor clean. It has tiny drops.

Everytime I changed the oil and wipe the oil pan to neat look. It is always come back messy. Annoyed me lot

Good luck on replace them. I'm sure it is not that hard.

it's really not. only reason it took so long for me, Jon, John, and Arc to get it all done was that we all had no clue how N/A was slapped together. Then we had all forgot to put the PCV from my old UIM in the new UIM. Sorry, Jon, again, for spraying your car with that jet of oil smoke. I guess not as many lovebugs stuck to your car last year, huh?

yep, have fun replacing gaskets....not to be a dick, but there really is no other fluid that is near there. Its definately coolant and you have a nice project on your hands ben..

No one answered my question... I could have sworn that the Series 3 3800's came from the factory with the upgraded LIM gaskets. Is it really possible that those gaskets have failed already?

Sorry jorgs for the comment about ya, I misread it. Ya I was whining Corey, I was really in denial that my car could have such an issue this early in its life.

I just got the 100,000 mile warranty yesterday and gasket leaks are covered so I'm taking in my car to a dealer to get it checked up. Already that warranty is going to start paying off. I wasn't sure when I would get it but I got it by mail so I don't have to worry about it anymore. Thanks everyone for input I'll get back to everyone on what it is soon.

No they dont,

Yes its coolent

and if you were going to do the LIM gaskets do the aluminum gaskets, then you have to do inj o rings and sc gasket because you remove them, and since your in there its good to replace valve cover gaskets because your able to get to them easy, you will have to do a oil change and a coolent flush after everything is finished

Sounds like he's bringing it into a shop, not doing it himself.

Thanks for the response though.

I'll make sure they use aluminum gaskets, and if they don't I'll buy some for them to use.

I have a theory that when you purchase a car, a serious problem is going to happen the first 2 months of car owner ship, when I got my car I had to replace the LIM gasket in 05 with 76000 miles on my gp. 525 dollars which took my whole income tax check, Im still mad at that.LOL

makes sense. within 2 months, my GP finally manifested an oil pan leak. within 2 months, my Camaro needed an engine. cant remember what happened with the Beretta...besides the collision. Darn that Murphy and all he stands for!

I'd believe it. My old GT when i first got it didn't have working headlights (even replacing bulbs didn't work) and there was also something wrong with the engine at first, even @ 32,000 miles. I'm going to say that this is a great theory. Car goes in tomorrow to get looked at, hopefully the warranty covers it all.

It should cover it all. I said this before, with the use of my warranty (100,000 KM / 1 Year Powertrain + Seals & Gaskets) the warranty company was extremely stingy and only gave $1000, the shop covered the rest ($350) cause he felt bad for me going through this garbage company and getting ripped off. Hopefully you have a different more enjoyable experience.

It ended up being a LIM like everyone on here stated. Also my valve covers are leaking as well. The parts and labor are covered by my warranty, but the fluids, sealants, and gaskets are not. There also ordering a new traction control switch for me so I can have traction control able to turn off.

The dealership mentioned flushing out my transmission but mentioned something like flushing it with transmission fluid? I'm assuming I should say no to having it flushed and just replace old?

Thanks for everyone who made input on that it was coolant leak because you were correct, and I'm sorry towards my attitude of denial.

Do not get your transmission flush please, I'm a living example. Just change the old fluid and filter and gasket. I have tranny problems for so long that I'm getting ready to get a low mileage used one from ed morad.

x2

Told guy to not have tranny flushed and to only change old fluid and filter, and replace gasket if necessary.

Also I'm waiting on hearing back to see if what they're using on the LIM is aluminum or not.

Also told them to change oil with Mobil 1 and AC Delco filter.

it WILL be necessary to replace the gasket. Dont give him that option.

No it won't. The transmission gasket is reusable many, many times.

thats some pretty flimsy rubber. After having it set to the torque spec and sitting there in the heat, the rubber is more than sure to compress and not provide a good seal. I cannot be convinced that reusing that seal is a good idea, especially when considering the fact that the filter replacement kit comes with a new pan gasket.

It comes with a crappy cork gasket that is not reusable. The one that goes on from the factory is reusable many times. Go ahead and replace it and waste your cash.

Ya OE is reusable lol. Also the newer kits come with rubber gaskets no longer cork.

Why not do a trans flush, 85%+ of trans problems after flushes are people do NOT re check the leval of the fluid afterwards

I always remember hearing people saying not to flush transmissions here so I went ahead and said avoid it. Correct thing to do? To be honest I'm a bit lazy at checking tranny fluid, so I could fit into that 85% of ppl if I ended up having it flushed.

I had a flush in my old GT early in its life (around 50k miles) and I never had an issue up to 90k, but maybe I didn't get to witness it. Dealership also told me the gasket was in good enough shape to be reused on the tranny.