I’ve now owned my car for over a year and the entire time I’ve owned it, it’s leaked fluid. However, I only know this from the wet spots on the engine and the drips on the pavement. All my fluids are completely full. My trans pan is wet and as is my engine and power steering pump. I have never had to top off my fluids and they are all right at the full line. Any idea why this is? Thanks.

 

What type of fluid is it leaking? Oil, coolant, ATF, P/S? There is always some seepage with old cars but if there are spots on the ground then it's not normal. First determine what it is, coolant is often green and wattery, oil is brown/black, ATF and P/S is red when new then various darker shades... You can wash the engine to see better where it's coming from.

 

coolant leaks, that one does actually cause the level to decrease. The power steering pump leaks, the head gasket leaks oil below the exhaust, and the trans pan and drain plug leaks. The fluids are all at the full line and I have never topped them off.

 

Well, then the leaks are not significant enough to cause drops in the levels YET but they will--there is no magic to these things.
These cars are not big leakers generally and you can probably take care of the problems easily enough, even the head gasket is pretty easy, as easy as it gets!

 

I’ve had the car for more than a year, I’ve had the same fluids in the car for a while now, i would have expected them to be at least a little low, but they are all at their respective max lines and have been for months.

 

you sure its not water condensation from the AC? Modern climate control systems run the AC year round to dry air for defogging windows etc so its possible to see some condensation even in the fall weather.

 

the fluids are red brown and red, and they’re not beneath any AC components. My water pump has brownish gold fluid (oil) on it, coming from the head gasket. It looks like trans fluid is dripping from the plug and power steering from the pump. I also try not to use my defrost because I don’t want to hurt my fuel economy too much.

 

better to defrost the windows and use a few cents worth of gas then to hit something and total the car and risk injuring yourself and others.

the A/C condensation drips out just behind the front wheels and a bit inboard.

I would clean off everything that looks oily/dirty under the car, use foaming spray engine cleaner (with the car cold), a brush, then hose it off, then look for new leakage. old seepaage probably has accumulated for 35 years.

the only 'red' fluid in your car is the ATF, automatic transmission fluid, which also is often used as power steerig fluid (perfectly good usage case), this should be clear red. if its dark brown its dirty, and should be flushed and changed.

BTW, you never mentioned what year/model Volvo this is...

 

it hasn’t been quite cold enough to use the defrost. The windows don’t fog up yet. Either way, the fluids are all clean, I had them changed recently. Oil needs to be changed in like 1k miles so it’s a little dirty. It’s a 1990 740, the PS pump is beneath the water pump. I will probably end up cleaning the engine soon. I think it is still currently leaking however since the build up looks wet.