OK,

Haven't posted for a little while since the ole X5 has actually been doing quite well. Only minor things to fix and the truck has been solid.

However, the other day I discovered an oil leak while the truck was sitting out on the street and this morning I pulled off the undertray to take a look. Very oily and grimey so I went after it with cleaners and rag to see if I could discover where the leak was coming from. The power steering lines that run across the bottom are obviously sweating and I am going to replace those but the highest point of the leak (only after driving the truck does it present itself) was coming from behind the crank pulley. So, easy right? I need a crank seal which is a lot of parts to remove to get to but problem identified.

Except!
The oil that's leaking simply cannot be engine oil! I run Royal Purple full synthetic XPR and that oil is clearly purple in color. The fluid dripping is 100% clear. Not a hint of color in it at all. So I did a dab of the leaking fluid on a piece of paper then compared it to the engine oil right off the dipstick and then the power steering fluid from its dipstick. Neither matches the color of the leaking fluid. I also cannot determine a smell from the fluid either. Nor is my oil level or power steering fluid level down.

The only other I could think of was transmission fluid. I have no idea what color that would be but this is almost water clear. It IS oil though of some sort. So what lines, couplings, etc. if any, run in position where it could leak down the back of the crank pulley and make one think they have a crank seal gone bad? Maybe, in some magical way it is the crank seal but take a look at the picture of the three fluids, side by side and tell me how that could be?

The leaking fluid is on the left, the Royal Purple is center and the power steering fluid is right. I went around a bunch with my flashlight under the truck to see if I could find another source of a leak but outside the sweating power steering line and the oil coming from behind the crank pulley, I cannot find anything significant.

Thoughts are appreciated!