My Subaru Forester (125,000 miles) was leaking some sort of brown fluid. Oddly enough, the car, though, was driving fine. A mechanic replaced the rac and pinion. The car continued to leak so I took the car back and the mechanic said to drive it awhile because it was normal after a rac & pinion change for there to be some leaking fluid?? I’m taking it back now for a third time (tomorrow, Dec. 21st) because I’ve paid this mechanic almost $800 and I don’t believe the car should continue to leak. Without even looking at the car, the mechanic said I may be having transmission problems?? The car has just started to sometimes stall at stop signs or right after I turn it on. (It doesn’t do this all the time). Other than that, it’s driving OK. It runs great on freeways. I don’t think this stalling is related to the leaking fluid, but I don’t know. Any ideas about the leaking fluid and whether the stalling could be related? I’ve only recently taken my car to this mechanic so since we don’t have much of a track record, I’m not comfortable with him or that he told me to drive the car for awhile despite the leaking fluid. I’m thinking, now, that was bad advice.
All the fluid levels need to be checked, and you need a mechanic who can do that. You don’t want something to leak enough to cause failure of something expensive.
First thing you need is a new mechanic, the leaking shouldn’t continue if the rack was the problem. You might try the ‘mechanic finder’ http://www.cartalk.com/content/mechx/find.html
What year Forester is it?
Dripping can persist after a hydraulic component repair, especially if the leak was significant and the fluid runs down and collects somewhere prior to dripping on the ground. The mechanic can’t always clean or remove ALL of this leaked fluid and so it may continue to drip for a short time afterward. But it should continue to rapidly diminish over time, never continue at the same, or greater, rate. Perhaps that is what the mechanic was referring to (giving the full benefit of doubt).
However, when that person then proceeds to offer an alternate diagnosis without even looking at the car, they loose all credibility IMO. It’s time to move on to another opinion and have a new person look at the car and give an assessment of the situation…
Ditto to the comments that were already posted.
Most of all, you need a new mechanic.
However, before you get the car to a new mechanic, please do yourself a favor and check all of the fluids under the hood. Just in case mechanic #1 is correct about a transmission leak, it would be irresponsible of you to continue to drive the car, especially on freeways.
Just confirm for yourself that your power steering fluid, your oil, your trans fluid, your differential fluid, and your coolant are all topped off, and then take the car to someone competent for an inspection. Please bear in mind that taking the car to Midas, Meineke, Monro, Sears, AAMCO, or any other chain will be just as bad as taking the car back to mechanic #1. Find a well-reputed independent mechanic in your area.