Ok - I'm a bit confused. I've been cleaning up oil drips from my wife's MCC in the garage. Thought it was the oil filter seal like it had been once before but this was on the wrong side of the car. After crawling under the car this evening I found the source of the drip and am confused how it could be leaking.

Here's the dripping bushing


Here is what it is leaking


and here is the part (#8) driver side control arm bushing.



As far as I know this bushings should be grease filled and sealed, and should not contain oil that would be dripping.

Any suspension experts here have any ideas why this bushing would suddenly start leaking oil? Definitely not coming from anywhere else under the bonnet. I wipe it dry and in a few minutes (especially after swinging the wheels stop to stop) the drip re-appears.

 

General consensus was that this should be a "dry" bushing and that it must be dripping rusty water from a tear. What was so weird was that it sure looked and felt oily to me, and there was nothing dripping down toward it from above or laterally. But, since I have it documented with pics I'll eventually take it to the dealer to have it checked out under warranty.

 

I'll try and remember to cut my old ones open and see if there is in fact oil in these. I know that the motor mount rubber bushings are filled with oil, but I don't think these are.

 

No, there is no oil or grease in the bushing. Only rubber over a metal inner support and rubber attached to an outer metal sleeve.


This is the rusted bushing sleeve from which the bad bushing was removed. It is evident the tear on this bushing allowed moisture to migrate within.

 

Sorry to burst all ur bubbles.

These bushing ARE hyd. and do have fluid in them.

Just because you didnt see fluid after you took your's out, doesnt mean there was none to begin with.

 

I stand corrected, I just cut open a never used bushing and it has a light-weight amber colored fluid within.


I made my statement based on cutting open the bushing on the other control arm.


So, fluid leaking from the bushing may be indicative of impending bushing failure.

 

Right, but i found on my car when i did the poly mounts mine werent leaking but i felt they were shot the way the frontend moved when i got on and off the gas. When i pressed them out it started bleeding which didnt happen when they were in the vehicle.

If you also look at your last pic....If you start to see the rubber pull away from the inside sleeve, the mount is probably bad as well even if you dont see fluid yet. Its a very noticable feel that you'll know when they go bad.

 

Thanks all! I'm glad this has been resolved so I can take the pics and the car - a Oct '04 build MCC into the dealer to get the bushing replaced. That's now one leaking motor mount (fixed) and one leaking bushing on my wife's MCC. Not too bad for nearly two years since we really haven't had any other issues with it. She does AX in it and the extra wear-n-tear hasn't been too bad.