Mysterious water leak?

[The Doctor]

Hi guys, having just bought a 2003 '03 S3, I've found a few minor niggles that I'd like to fix.

I noticed yesterday that there was some liquid dripping from underneath the engine bay when the car was ticking over on my driveway (it was not raining!). The liquid was coming from 2 points. Most was dripping from a point just to the left of centre (nearside) of the car, just behind the line of the front wheels. There was also a small amount dripping from the front valance, directly underneath the offside fog light.

The dripping was fairly constant so I collected some in a small plastic dish. In 10 mins I only collected about 5ml, so it's not a major issue but one I'd like to understand nonetheless.

I think the liquid was water - it was colourless & odourless, so I'm confident it's not coolant, oil, brake fluid or PAS fluid. Any ideas? I tried turning the aircon off but the dripping continued. Could it simply be condensation from the aircon system?

Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers,
Paul.

 

[AlexStanley]

I reckon it's dripping from the air-con - I'd imagine that even once you'd switched it off, it would still drip for a while afterwards

 

[MintyS3]

If you use your washers, window or lights then water can run down and pool in certain parts of the car, these then eventually drip down onto the ground.

 

[The Doctor]

So sounds like it's nothing to worry about then.

 

[AndyMac]

Sounds like the aircon if it's pure water. Leave the car idling in the drive with the aircon on "lo" for a 10 minutes and see if more water is collected from the same place. On hot humid days the aircon will take out loads of humidity from the air and just dumps it on the road. Normally you don't notice, but if it's idling in the drive then it can cause unnecessary worry. Put it this way there are no liquids inside the engine that are colourless and odourless so almost definately nothing to worry about.

 

[The Doctor]

Yep, pretty sure you're right guys. I've left the aircon off for the past couple of days & not found anything. That's a relief. :thumbsup: Thanks for your responses.