Fluid Leak Diagnosis at our Winter Haven shop

We can usually narrow it to a family of fluid from the color, and that helps you decide how fast to come in. What a photo can't do is tell us where it came from, since the drip point and the source are often nowhere near each other. That part takes a lift and a light.

It depends entirely on which fluid and where. A little weeping at an old gasket that has held its level for months is something to keep an eye on, not an emergency. Anything wet in the brake or fuel system gets treated differently, and we'll be clear about which one you have.

No. It is made for the system it goes into and stays in circulation with the fluid, so it doesn't change how anything works. The only catch is that it needs some run time to reach the leak, so on an intermittent one we may ask you to drive it and come back.

Sometimes we don't, and if the source is right there we'll show you and move on. The cases that need time are the ones where everything underneath is already coated, since we have to clean it, run the car, and let the leak reappear on a clean surface before we can honestly say where it starts.

Rarely. Most of the work is cleaning, lighting, and knowing where fluid travels on that particular engine. If we do reach a point where something has to come off to see the source, we'll tell you what and why before we touch it.