: Fluid Leak 87 delegance

05-03-11, 04:37 PM
Hello All, so i have a question to anyone that can help.

I have an 1987 Cadillac Brougham delegance. its been sitting for 6 and a half months now. i noticed a month or two back after starting it up the check engine light would come on (right at start up), havent had it come on before taking it off road. Its been parked outside for the past 5 months so i recently have parked it in the garage. today i thought i would start it. so after starting it of course the check engine light comes on steady again. while getting out of the car and walking around i noticed coming out of the exhaust pipe brown water!? a small puddle. so i turned the car off. is this a bad thing? also while checking for any oil likes under the car ..i noticed a small ring of clear fluid located in the center between both tires. could one or both of these things be triggering the check engine light to come on. so i guess i have 2 questions. 1 the brownish colored puddle coming out of exhaust..and 2 the clear fluid on ground between both front tires in center. i placed some cardboard under car to catch the fluid.checking the next day another small ring had formed.

05-03-11, 06:24 PM
The brown fluid is from condensation building up in the tail pip and washing away all of the carbon and loose rush. After you drive it a few times, that should go away.

Was the clear fluid under the car water? Or did it have a slick, slimy feel to it? If could be break fluid, but there are no lines that run down the middle of the front end.

There are several things that will cause the check engine light to come on at start-up and remain on. You need to run a diagnostics on the computer and pull Diagnostic Trouble Codes to see what the exact cause is. It's pretty easy to pull the codes yourself. Follow the directions in this link; OBD1 Codes Retrieval (http://www.extreme-check-engine-light-codes.com/GM%20OBD1%20Decoder.htm).

05-03-11, 06:34 PM
thank you for the replay. good to hear about the exhaust being condensation. The fluid had a slick feeling to it..i replaced the cardboard with tin foil to catch it..so looking at it..it had a yellow color to it. and this was located center between both front tires. in that general area.

05-03-11, 07:47 PM
Might be power steering fluid. The pump is in the center of the engine and there are lines that run around the steering rack.

05-03-11, 08:08 PM
I would rather it be an issue with power steering fluid than break fluid. thanks for your input. i will have it checked out.i think both break fluid and power steering fluid are a clear yellow in color, so i think it has to be one of the two. but you say there no break line in that area and the center of the engine a little further back between both tires is where im seeing the leak.if its a break fluid leak i know getting that sort of thing fixes can be costly. thanks again.