Any ideas on what this fluid leak could be?

Hi everyone, It's been awhile since I posted here, but I've had some recent troubles with my 996 c4s. I noticed a puddle of black fluid, interspersed with some clear fluid(the black stuff lumped together, kind of like how oil separates from water), none of which has any smell. This is near the front of the car, around the trunk area, closer to the driver's side. It might be helpful to note that the car had been driven hard, then parked for awhile & the temps have been at around 32 degrees, even in the garage. After reading some posts, I decided to see if it might be the clutch master cylinder overflowing, but here's the thing, all of the pictures I see of the clutch reservoir online show it in the compartment to the right of the battery, with a green cap. There's just an empty hole there in my car! Am I doing something wrong here??? I'm just hoping it's not diff fluid... Any advice is appreciated! --Varun

The battery compartment area is not sealed to the weather. Look foward of where your pic is. The clutch/brake reservoir is in the sealed part of the trunk.

Thanks Frank. I guess I didn't realize that the clutch used the same reservoir as the brakes! However, do you know what reservoir's shown in this picture: http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_VnY1dkT-p...0/IMG_5923.jpg I'm curious about that green cap. This is from a 996 turbo, are those different from the NA cars?

You don't have a clutch master cylinder. Our cars (C4S) just use a shared system with the brakes. You have a clutch slave, but it's actually on the tranny. EDIT: Yes, the Turbo has a separate master clutch cylinder. Is this leak continuous? Like every morning there is a fresh puddle?

Ah that'd explain it. This leak doesn't seem to be continuous, in fact I haven't seen a single drop after I cleared out that puddle. I scooped up some of the fluid so hopefully my mechanic can give me an analysis of the fluid. So here's a stupid question, if my front diff leaked out all of its oil, I'd be able to tell when driving right? I'm assuming it'd be making some kind of horrible noise or lock up, but I haven't heard anything out of the ordinary.

Hard to tell without a pic of the spot and it's location. No smell - water and dirt? What problems are you having? Edit: If all fluid leaked out of your front diff there would be noise. Hypoid oil smells like rotten garlic.

Frank looks like you're right. I took the fluid to my mechanic today & he said it was water for sure. I guess I overreacted!

good that it is not serious.

I would have tasted it..........like this guy did.

Yukon Cornelius was a master a determining the source of unknown fluids...

Hey Guys, im noobie here, just got my 2002 996 C2, yesterday i was driving and everything was fine, out of nowhere the clutch got soft and when the engine is running i cant get the car in any gear,, but when its off it lets me get in any gear, clutch fluid low??? wheres located so i can check to make sure? thanks a lot and again im new to this ! thanks

HUH? weird place to post that question, I recommend posting that question in a new thread...

Quotes source post: 9143322

Maybe your post should be in another thread but in answer to your question. On my 99 C2 the shared Brake/clutch hydraulic fluid reservoir is located under the hood on drivers side. You can't miss it. If the level is very low, top it up and bleed the system as air has got in via the reservoir. If the level is ok then you need to look into the problem elsewhere. Maybe a bum master cylinder but thats only guessing. You would have to read other threads about it. Good luck.