Hello all,

I have a 2001 Volvo V70 T5 automatic-geartronic with @ 112k on it. It has sat for a couple days. This morning I went to get in and there was a small pool of yellow oil on my driver's side plastic floor mat just in front of the gas pedal. Rough guess around 4-6 tablespoons. I could feel it had dripped down the inside footwell. I popped off the side panel of the lower inside center console. There is some sort of "clear plastic container" and I could feel oil on it. Looking in, this clear canister is between the gas pedal and the air vent on the lower center console by where your right foot would be when driving. It is just @ 2-4 inches in front of the air duct. The oil is clean and yellow. Definitely not anti-freeze, it is a thicker consistency, a lot like vegetable oil. It is very clean oil and definitely yellow, not green. I didn't have time to tear into it further yet and did not drive it. I'll look closer tomm and see if I can trace to exactly where it is coming from.

Any ideas what this oil is? If it is that "clear plastic container", what is that for?

Any help appreciated.

Thank you,
Robert

 

i would have guessed coolant because of the location, hmmm

 

I wonder if it is A/C dye and something is leaking in the A/C system.

 

Update:

It initially didn't seem like antifreeze, but the leak was traced to one of the feed hoses on the heater core. From the side view, the end of the heater core looked like a small "clear plastic container". My mistake. Anyway I replaced just the O-Rings on both feed hoses to the heater core. It has been 3-weeks now and no more leaks or smells. Glad I opted to first try the $4 fix and not the $450+ heater core replacement.

Note for other users: The retaining clips for the hoses are major pain. Despite "lubing" everything with anti-freeze, they didn't come even close to fitting back in all the way. Use vasoline on everything!! The hoses seat better and the clips slide in fairly easy with needle-nose pliers.

 

Glad you found and fixed it.

 

Posting the "solution reply" is always appreciated by us "arm-chair mechanics"! I too would have guessed a heater leak. Antifreeze generally has a fairly distinctive smell so I'm surprised it wasn't initially apparent.

Jerry