97 Z28. Drove all over town Friday night making several stops/starts. Drove home and went to bed. Came out next morning and wouldn't start. Would get fuel, battery was fine and starter was cranking the engine but couldn't get spark. Occasionally the engine would sputter and a few cylinders would fire but that was it.

Just had the tow truck come to pick it up. As he pulled it away I noticed a frothy/creamy yellow puddle underneath the back of the engine (probably where the engine meets the transmission) On top of that were some drops of fluid which I think were red (or brownish red... kind of hard to tell)

What's the yellow fluid? Transmission mixed with oil? Would a damaged seal like that prevent the engine from starting?

 

the red fluid would likely be transmission oil, if you have an auto, not sure if manual tranny oil is the same colour

not sure what the yellow stuff would be

 

Check the dipstick to see if you see some of the same creamy yellow. That usually means water in the oil got whipped into mayonaise. And it will prevent an engine from starting if it's really bad cause it gets on the plugs. Hope I'm wrong...

 

Sorry... it's an auto.

I checked the dipstick on Saturday and the oil appeared normal (a little dirty/dark but normal) There was a lot of rain over the past two days (until I saw the leak I suspected a bad opti or something being affected by the moisture)... maybe the oil mixed with groundwater... maybe...

 

Did you do anything to the car recently. When i use bolt buster to loosen them up it leaves a yellow puddle under my car. I am sure it is not that but i have read a few posts and they left out very important things.

 

Nope, thanks though...

A co-worker of mine says it might be old transmission fluid. (It's definitely nearing or just past its change time of 75000 miles...)

I'm almost thinking maybe a dog barfed there or something before I parked there and I've just got a small transmission leak that I never noticed before. It's my usual parking space and I'm pretty good about looking for "skid marks" after leaving a parking space

 

And the answer IS...

Transmission Fluid!

And the car started right up after a night in the repair garage so they don't know what the problem is... (I *know* what it is now... it's a friggin' wet opti...)

 

Dog barf.... Hilarious! And thats exactly what it looks like too! Glad everything worked out okay thou

 

And just got the call from the Garage - It's a bad opti. That will be #3. Of course there was some discussion about a certain opti+labor being under warranty and denials of such a thing, than admitting of such a thing but only if I had the actual receipt (which... I do for #1... not so sure about #2...)