Fluid under the belly

[romair]

Took a flight today from Fort Worth to Port Aransas (about 2 hours). Great tailwind, doing about 190 ground speed. However, when I arrived and was securing the airplane, noticed a good amount of reddish/orange fluid streaking under the belly of the aircraft, all the way to the aft securing hook. Feels oily, but does not look like oil. The streaking starts at a small hole in the center of the belly, between the two mains. Oil level was same as when I departed. I did have some problems with brakes not too long ago, I'm wondering if this is brake fluid...what else could it be. Brakes do feel normal though, and I had my passenger pump the brakes while I was under the airplane, and nothing happened. Also trying to decide if its safe to take it back to Fort Worth for my mechanic to deal with it, or if I need to ground it...

What do you guys think

Thanks,

Stefan

'89 M20J

[larryb]

It looks like hydraulic fluid. Used in brakes, and flaps if you have a flap pump handle. In my J the resevoir is in the battery compartment. The resevoir is not that large and it looks like you lost a fair bit of fluid. I think I would want to know where it is coming from before I flew it again.

 

Larry

[romair]

I did start using my flaps much more frequently, but they are electric....I looked in the reservoir, I had it completely full about 2 months ago when my brakes were failing, now its about 3/4...but it looks like more than a quarter of that reservoir spillage, unless the smear effect makes it look really bad. Still not 100% sure its brake fluid though...would it come from a broken line? Any other fluid that looks like that?

[scottfromiowa]

Did you put corrosion treatment on plane recently? Mine wept a lot out of belly. Flying made worse

[romair]

No, no other changes...

[larryb]

What model mooney do you have? In my J there are 3 types of fluid: Engine oil, Hydraulic fluid for brakes, and 100LL. No other fluids look like that.

 

What sort of brake work did you have done? I'm pretty sure it's your brake fluid. Encouraging that you still have 3/4 of the resevoir left. If it were me, I'd certainly pull off the belly and have a look around.

 

Larry

[Hector]

Definitely pull belly panels and take a look. That is hydraulic fluid!! I'm thinking flap actuator

[romair]

My pilot side brakes went soft a couple of months ago, and we just decided to fill the reservoir up with brake fluid. No other work. It's a 89 J model. My flaps are electric...I thought that it means I shouldn't have hydraulic fluid.

I'm at an airport where a mechanic needs to come in from the inland...trying not to think how much that would be. That's why I'm considering flying it back to Fort Worth where my mechanic can look at it...

Thanks

Stefan

[OR75]

hydraulic fluid

it does not take much to make a small look really bad.

it should be easy to identifyas it smells strong and the smell is persistent

[bumper]

I agree with perezhr. When you pull the belly panel, look carefully at the inner side of that panel and it may give you a clue as to where the red hydraulic fluid (which is MilSpec 5606) is dripping from. Maybe from a chafed brake line or a loose fitting, or from the master cylinders at the brake pedals. 

 

With oil, it doesn't take much of a leak to make an impressive mess, so being down 1/4 down on brake fluid reservoir is telling you something.

 

Calculated risk flying for service, I'd do it. Check brakes before you go, don't put yourself in a position where you can't stop safely with just one side (jdon't taxi fast or head towards anything really expensive, avoid strong cross winds blah, blah, blah), You can't tell if or when the leak might let go if it's on the pressure side between the master and slave cylinder,

 

bumper

[Hector]

Fill up the hyd reservoir and pump the breaks for a while and recheck reservoir level. If you did not loose a Lot of fluid I would refill and fly home with minimal use of brakes (if you are careful you can keep brake usage to absolute minimums). I should qualify this by saying that in my home field I can land and taxi to my hangar without using brakes at all. If you don't have intermediate stops and you feel comfortable landing in you home field with minimal brake usage then given your circumstances I would try to fly home and have my own mech fix this.

[chrisk]

I have to agree ground speed was great yesterday.  190kts with a low power setting.   http://flightaware.com/live/flight/N9821P/history/20130505/1259Z/KGTU/KGLS  Unfortunately, I had to pay for it on the way back.  75% power, 4000 ft, and bumpy.

 

Back on topic, it looks like break fluid to me.  Pull the belly and track it down, or send it to your mechanic. 

[Islandmech]

My pilot side brakes went soft a couple of months ago, and we just decided to fill the reservoir up with brake fluid. No other work. It's a 89 J model. My flaps are electric...I thought that it means I shouldn't have hydraulic fluid.

I'm at an airport where a mechanic needs to come in from the inland...trying not to think how much that would be. That's why I'm considering flying it back to Fort Worth where my mechanic can look at it...

Thanks

Stefan

Hi there, you mention you filled the reservoir with "brake fluid", i hope you mean 5606 hydraulic fluid? ....if by chance you used automotive brake fluid, it will take out all the seals in your system and leaks will be the result.

Cheers, Gary

[romair]

It ended up being the parking brake unit unde the belly. It's almost under the pilot's chair. When I took the belly panel off there was a lot of brake fluid on top of the panel. The unit itself has something that looks like a camshaft with 3 o-rings, and that's where it was leaking from. Changing the o-rings seems to have solved the problem.

On the way back there was some light precip on the way, and a storm to the west. I really like how well the stratus with ADS-B performed.

Stefan

[Marauder]

Good easy fix! Were you able to see the precip that was shown?

[chrisk]

Interesting.  Where did you find O rings for it?

[romair]

I did see the precip, and actually right before I went through a green area on the radar, and sure enough I got some light rain.

Chris - the mechanic that came on the field had a bunch of o-rings with him, so we just matched the size. Hopefully that will work just fine. No further leakage so far.

Stefan

[AmigOne]

Hydraulic fluid from the brake master cylinder. Happened to me last month, in my C is the Paramount brand. Bought a set of O rings from Lasar ($5.00) and replaced them, problem fixed. They charged me 2.5 hrs which was too much, the job can be done comfortably in 1.5 hrs, max 2 hrs. I also taxied the airplane back and forth from the shop so they can't add that time, as they some time do.