The Daily Disastah: Water leaking from under my engine

I just discovered that my car is leaking water, what could it be?  I have been battling the rats that are living in the engine of my car, and I sprayed it with a foul odor which did nothing, I installed the home for a raptor who has never checked it out, and I finally placed some poison near the car.  It's working, because I see that there is blood all over my engine, but the creature is eating the cables.  What has water?  do the radiators have water or a special chemical?  do the radiators have hoses that the rodent ate through?  I have a Subaru Outback.  I know that they ate through the hoses that feed the windshield wipers, could it be the same thing?  I called the dealer, but they are not picking up the phone, and I have to drive tomorrow; I am afraid of getting stuck in the middle of nowhere.

It could be normal condensation from the air conditioner. How much water do you think has dropped?

You’re sure it’s not just the a/c dripping off after use?? I’ve been caught out with that. It’s normal. (Carry some spare water just in case , maybe spare pantyhose in case a hose goes but you should be fine)

We are in the middle of winter in the Southern Hemisphere, so no air conditioner usage now. How much water? Maybe a quarter of a cup I noticed this afternoon in the pavement. This is my engine; washed less than a week ago.

I still use my a/c during the day, heater at night  (daytime temps in mid-20s C)

Don’t have any other suggestions. Sorry! That’s about all the car-internal knowledge I have.

You know more than me about cars.

If you can't have it checked soon, I would suggest putting a gallon jug of water in the trunk and going for enough of a drive to warm the engine up.  Keep an eye on the temperature gauge.  If it starts to climb well above normal stop, let the car cool for a bit, and add the water to the overflow reservoir.  NOT TO THE RADIATOR!  The overflow reservoir is a plastic tank near the radiator.  Opening the actual radiator in a hot car could cause scalding.  And to answer the basic part of your question, the radiator contains a mix of coolant and water, and other than washer fluid that is the only water stored in the car.  When you first drive a bit, water will come out of your exhaust because it is a byproduct of combustion, but once the engine warms that water evaporates before you ever see it.

If the engine was cleaned a week ago and looks like that now, you have a leak.  That looks like rusty water so probably coming from the cooling system somewhere.  My guess is a hole in the radiator.  Let it cool, fill it up and let it idle up to temperature.  Then turn it off and listen for any hissing or look for signs of a drip.

I've had a few leaky radiators with holes close to the top.  Once the water level dropped below the hole...no real issue and ran fine.  That was a better alternative to replacement $$

I thought that the rusty colored stuff was rat urine; I know that the other stuff is rat feces, the speckled stuff, but you are saying that it could be a radiator leak.  You may be right, the color of the "urine" has changed, but i thought that it was due to the poison which makes the rat bleed to death.  The rat made a nest in the engine.  I am afraid that it is going to die in my engine and it will stink to high heaven!

The red makes me think hydrolic fluid. Power steering or brakes. I would find out before driving.

Now i am really worried.  I am one hour from the dealer.  Can I go to a regular mechanic to address this issue?  there are mechanics at about a 20 minute ride.

Ah, I see the rat crap now.  I didn't know rats were part of the equation.  Yeah, you're gonna want to address the rat thing.  They don't belong under the hood.

If it is the power steering or brake fluid, those are easily checked. Also, transmission fluid can also be red.. There is a dip stick to check for that.

Google: Car Talk. That was the NPR show with Click and Clack. Anyway, it has a link to where you can post questions about car problems and get answers. It probably is not as active as in past but its worth a try.

What would make a hole on the radiator?  can a rat bite through it?  I have no idea what radiators are made of, aren't they made of metal?  rodents eat through plastic, they bite cables, but a radiator?  sounds unlikely, but I have no idea of what they are made of.  

A few days back the rusty stuff looked different; it looked like a clear liquid with stains of blood.  I still think that is the most likely scenario.  

I am going with windshield wiper liquid.  They have eaten through those hoses before, last year, and I don't think that rats live long, so this must be a new rat.  In the summer they are not a problem, it's in winter that they shelter in the car.  I think I am going to get an exterminator to come here.  Killing rats is not allowed, because there is one rodent that is a native species protected by law.  It's a real cutie, but most of what we have are disgusting rats that come out at night to cause damage.  They are not native, they were brought into the Reserve by who knows who, and they are pushing out the cuties that everyone loves.  One of the rats carries a virus which kills people, and it is the urine that kills people.  That rodent is everywhere around us, and I know of someone who is very young, he survived the exposure, but it has been a very long haul of rehabilitation for a very strong, young man.  I wouldn't have a chance. 

The poison does a great job of getting rid of them, but I had a litter of puppies in my house, and i didn't want to take a chance that they could get into the poison.  Rachel got into some poison last year, and it was a horrible ordeal.  I adopted another pup last year, and he got into some poison too.  Both survived, but i don't want to go through that a third time.  I am using a new poisoning method that is more effective and more difficult to result in accidental poisoning, because the poison is placed inside a pvc tube that the dogs can't get into.

Thank you folks.  Good night.

This will be graphic...  if you found what looks like blood in your engine, but not body parts or bits of animal, then it probably isn't blood but more likely one of the car fluids as described above.  Rats, and other animals, do climb into engines to keep warm, and do get killed by not getting out quick enough on occasion, but you would have found more evidence of the carnage inflicted by the belts, fan, etc, than just blood.

ETA:  I'm not doubting that you have rats, that does happen.  But I'm thinking they chewed through something and that is the more likely cause of the red fluid. 

If they are getting in there to get warm perhaps you could set out an electric blanket with a nice big bowl of poison next to it. Give them an alternative.

Radiators rust out. Hoses to radiators wear out and leak.

Copihue said:
What would make a hole on the radiator?  can a rat bite through it?  I have no idea what radiators are made of, aren't they made of metal?  rodents eat through plastic, they bite cables, but a radiator?  sounds unlikely, but I have no idea of what they are made of.  

  

 I know I had at least one car with a plastic radiator.  But if you're describing red liquid all over the engine I'd say it's something else, like transmission fluid or brake fluid.  Also, whenever I've had a radiator leak in a car there was an accompanying sweet smell as it burned off in the hot engine. 

I am truly embarrassed to tell you what it was:  I had the A/C on without realizing it.  It's winter in here, and it is cold.  I dismissed the possibility that it was water from the AC thinking that I would never turn the AC on on a ****** cold day.  Now you know:  I turned it on without realizing it.

But that is not the complete story with the problems with the car, it only seems to have solved the issue of water on the pavement.  The rat lives in the wheel fenders, and they don't jump off.  I drove to my cousin's house which is an hour away, and I was telling him about the rat (the cute on in this case), and he thought I was crazy.  I opened the hood, and there she was looking at us.  People keep them as pets; honestly, they are adorable.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_degu

I checked the radiator water levels, and they are fine.  I checked the windshield wiper fluid, and it is totally empty.  They have eaten through that plastic.  They have also eaten through something else that brings the heat to the floor of the car; that is why I am always cold; you can see something dangling from the motor when you look at my car from a distance.

Living in a new country is a challenge; I am hit with a disaster a day, all of it costing big bucks.  Chile is the most expensive country in Latin America, and Santiago is very expensive.  Right now they are fixing the drainage system in my house, next comes the hearth which was damaged by the guy who tried to clean it, and then I will need to take care of the car; should I survive.

Every other day I am ready to take a plane back to Jersey, but life here is very different, and it has many, many good things.  My least favorite are the people who have very different belief system from what I was raised.  I will never get used to it; i don't think.  Last week they assessed me a CLP$800,000 or US$ 1,261.83 penalty, because my dog Jake, who can barely walk, went into my neighbor's yard (fences are not allowed) and he barked at my neighbor.

This environment is magnificent, but the people suck.

Your post reminds me of The Martian by Andy Weir in which the main character talks about his attempts to survive alone on Mars after being abandoned by the rest of his crew.  This book is worth a read if you haven't already. Definitely puts our day to day annoyances in perspective.

I wouldn't be at all embarrassed to learn I had turned on the A/C in winter. First, it's a super easy mistake to make. Second, I had a car that ran the A/C automatically whether I turned it on or not, as it was an overly-computerized car.

As cute as the rat is, I suggest you get rid of it. You may be able to just leave some rags soaked in ammonia to repel it.

Scenery wouldn't be enough to justify tolerating bad people. I hope there are also some good people in your life.

Of course there are lovely people here, and among the best are my ESL students who are bright and excited about everything we are reading and viewing and discussing.  One of the best experiences in my life.

But there are multiple crooked business people out to cheat you, others who take no responsibility for their errors, neighbors who report the smallest infractions and have no perspective on their own failings, and workmen who don't know what they are doing and don't care.  So in that spirit I thought I would start a new thread called:  The Daily Disaster where I can elucidate on my gullible moments, my rosy outlook on the human race, and altogether naive perspective needing remediation.  Of course everyone can chime in. 

How do I change the title on this thread?  I did a search, and Jamie says that I am supposed to see something next to the title, but I see nothing.

Go to the discussions page.  Find the current title for your discussion.  You should see an edit link below the current thread title (in blue).  Click on the edit link.  You will see the title of your thread in a box you can edit.  Change title to what you want it to read and submit.

Thank you, Joan.

Thank you all.  Whenever something happens to a car, I draw a blank slate with absolutely no ideas, just panic.  Your comments helped me to think about what could be the problem, what to check, and what couldn't be the problem. Crowd sourcing is amazing.

The picture I posted does not show the urine and feces well, so it threw you off.  I have been battling this rat problem for 1.5 yrs., and I think that is definitely rat excrement and urine.  Everyone says that they go in the car for warmth, but I think they go for protection from the raptors.  There is bird dropping on the hood of my car, and I think that a raptor definitely was looking for dinner under the hood.  I leave the hood open whenever I am not using the car.  The metal is too cold, but they do make nests, and that might be the warmth they need.

I had been fostering a little of puppies that they dumped on the road, 9 puppies, so I couldn't lay out any poison; puppies get into everything.  The puppies have all been adopted, over and over again, and the poison is out.  I see no rats, though the rats come out at night.  I think I have one or two, but no more.  The rats I have are not degus, because they are diurnal creatures, and my dogs are out in the day, so they moved out.  I have nasty rats,  and I may very well have the rats that carry the deadly hantavirus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orthohantavirus.  The rats have been spotted about 100 meters from my home.  People who get sick do so because they smell the urine of a carrier rat, and that urine in my car could carry that deadly virus.  The virus dies about 20 minutes after being exposed to sunlight, so i keep the hood of my car open not only to make the rats more vulnerable to raptors, but to make sure that the virus is dead.  Car thieves don't come here to steal cars; there are much easier cars to steal that this one.

So why did I go off the deep end?  the fine.  It is so punitive, and I am being punished, because the electric fence I installed in a property where normal fences are not allowed, ran out of batteries and the batteries are not sold in Chile and not exported to Chile.  Months ago the importer of the fence did not respond, and it took me a while to come up with a different plan to purchase the item.  I don't know how things work in Chile.  But they don't care, and they fined me.  They want to make an example of me for being careless in letting my dogs out loose on the Reserve.  I reject that sort of thinking.

Furthermore, the way it was done was offensive.  They sent me an open letter.  That is an invasion of my privacy.  Then they asked me to sign that I had received it.  It's demeaning.

I absolutely hate the developer, and my lawyer's best trait is that he was very expensive.  He never told me that this is not a condominium which has many protections for property owner.  No, this is considered an agricultural property according to the law, and we are basically serfs legally speaking to the will of the developer.  I wish the attorney had explained that to me before I signed on the dotted line.  I feel as if I am in Pinochet's Chile, or maybe in Colonial times.  It's disgusting.

And there are many lovely people, at the top of my list are my students.  They are employees of a very prominent, old university, and they are working cultivating plants and fruits in the university's fields. They generate income for research studies.  They are smart engineers who have never been taught about how agronomy impacts human health in a negative way or how it impacts climate change.  I am teaching them English using TED Talks videos, and they are interested in what is being said.  I feel that I might just make a difference, with luck, and I am trying to make sure that I do my best.  Much of the food in your supermarket comes from this region, and they are in a position to make a difference.  They haven't been taught this, maybe because they are in their 40s and late 20s, and the info is too recent.  Maybe.  I feel useful, and I like that.

Can you use some practical plantings to make boundaries that are difficult for the dogs (and rats) to get through?

I know it’s hard - the waterfowl here nest in every plant or edging they can.

That fine though. That’s horrendous. Can the average Chilean afford it? It’s beyond punitive.