Between me and you, I'm a bit fed up of this... its a 4 year old car and already there seems to be a leak somewhere....

My family noticed some leaks in the driveway, this is approximate, but when facing the car, a bit towards the left (or passenger side), in the engine bay area.
The car was idling for a while...
They said on the snow, it was bright yellow... to me the coolant is dexcool in there and its pink... the reservoir looked fine.. I did a quick look inside the engine bay with a flashlight, near the mastercylinder, front of the engine, and near rad cap area, didn't really notice anything...

I quickly checked, the oil, transmission fluid, seemed fine... the brake fluid level did seem low.. I do recall topping it up beginning of November... and now its about halfway. I was unable to check the power steering, due to where its at, and the engine was hot. I have been hearing it whine in cold weather...

I tried looking into the service manual where the brake lines are.. I don't have that good of an idea. Also here its snowing a lot...
Are these cars known to leak fluid... we can't exactly pull the car in the garage as its big... and now cold outside...

I also have to say that I have that vibration problem, in R,D,1,2,3, after being stopped for a few seconds, rpms sometimes dips, and a cyclical vibration is felt in the car... its not always the same degree, happens more when the car is warmed up. I think more noticeable in cold weather... I did read up online some things

edit- I'm finding this strange, but when in Park, the pedal is very spongy, even loose for the first inch of travel... put in D, then it firms up a bit, but still spongy... only after driving a while then the pedal response is better, we already bled the brakes this passed november..

some ideas online:
http://www.subaruoutback.org/forums/66- ... essed.html

Thank you for any ideas!

I would look at brake lines like you started to. I have an 07 and have never had to add brake fluid unless I removed some myself while working on the car.

Why can't you pull into the garage? Your garage is too small to fit a gp?

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power steering is proably leaking only yellow fluid i can think of and with the whine you are hearing points twards that.

cheack the fluid level it is under the alternator on the passenger side

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92 LeBaron Convert: Turbo 3L 97 Grand Prix GT 4dr "Frankenstein": L67 4t65 swap
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Power steering fluid is what came to my mind, too. I know my wife's 04 has a slight leak somewhere, but it isn't enough to drip.....just has a moist appearance below the PS pump, and it has been like that for years.

Thank you guys for the input....

So I topped up the brake fluid today, it was about half full in the reservoir.. since then the brakes do seem less spongy.
I haven't felt as bad vibrations tonight, but doesn't mean it'll be worse as it was -9 C, usually when colder the car vibrates more at a stop. (these vibrations are getting on my nerves..., sometimes I read up and others had issues with brake boosters.. its a costly piece, I haven't had a chance to check the mounts)
Does anyone know in detail about the brake booster etc... ?
Like could more brake fluid cause less vibration from the booster... not sure if this is making any sense...

When I go to check the pipe from the intake to the booster, i always noticed that the booster check valve, seems to rotate, so to speak, in the booster.. as in you can wiggle it, but with force it doesn't come off or anything...
When the car is off, it takes 2.5 pumps before the pedal stiffens, again its very spongy, loose...

- another thing to note, was that when we bled the brakes, the both front bleeder screws were hard to turn... there was quite a bit of debris in the threads of the bolts... I'm wondering if you guys had any problems with it...

I thought I smelled brake fluid while driving.. but I think I may be looking into it too much, ,,

I still wasn't able to check the PS fluid due to heat and tightness.... hehe
I did check the brake lines quickly from inside the engine bay, looks okay.... in addition I checked several times today on the ground, started up the car, 5-10mins, brushed off the snow.. reversed it, checked in the snow and didn't see anything...

Yea garage is too small... it might fit... haven't tried it.... but won't be able to work on it or even walk around...

thanks again

"I still wasn't able to check the PS fluid due to heat and tightness" i see what you did there

yea check your power steering fluid cause this cars a PITA to drive without power steering unless your cool with the work out haha

as far as the brakes go, mine too are spongy, check the inside of your rims, like where the caliper would drip, turns out that has been my problem the whole time, no puddle of fluid because it all just sat in the inside of the rimand spun off when i moved the car

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BRAP BRAP BRAP nuff said

Once when I tried to bleed the front calipers, the bleeder valves were corroded in the caliper so badly that I ended up just ripping them to pieces (they never did move). Ended up buying rebuilt calipers to replace them, and the brakes felt much firmer then.

If you're having a hard time getting to the PS pump, you can easily move the coolant reservoir out of the way (just undo the two retaining nuts on top and pull that thing up out of there). That gives you a little more access room, and every little bit helps.

Thank you again....

hehe ya for the PS fluid... comment... lately the PS seems fine, sure it whines on cold.. but our oldsmobile used to howl so loud, sounded like the car was supercharged lol.. and it worked fine up until the end... I will try to check it... ya perhaps removing the reservoir will help.. I did check it before without removing the reservoir..

I think I'm gonna get new bleeder screws, and change them out when we change tires in a few months, if not before if anything is wrong..
I don't really want to check things in the cold... another snow storm is forecasted... for checking inside the rim I did but with wet snow.... I will keep an eye on it though...
I'm surprised the front calipers bolts were seized.... thats not fun.. maybe I should try some plumbers tape? or not a good idea... maybe the factory front brakes are so so.. since the replacements faired better...

Could low brake fluid cause more vibration? or a small leak, force the system to work more, hence causing the engine to run rough.. despite rpms staying levelish

We went to the auto show today and damn most cars can't really work on nowdays and I keep thinking the GP is not too too accessible lol

Low brake fluid won't cause the motor to run rough, try cleaning the mass airflow sensor and dumping a bottle of fuel injector cleaner in the tank when you fill it up. Also make sure the air filter is clean, if it's dirty that'll cause the motor to run rough. If the car has more then 50,000 miles some new spark plugs and wires are recommend along with a new fuel filter. You can't expect a car to run for tens of thousands of miles without maintaining it since they don't stay new forever.

The reason your car is hard to work on is the motor is facing the wrong way, and the trans is in the engine bay instead of under the floor pan, so everything is packed in there like a sardine can. You can access the back of your motor easier if you remove the front dogbone motor mounts and use a ratcheting tie down strap to roll the motor/trans forward. That will allow you to check and fill the PS fluid with more room for your hands and allows you to get to the rear spark plugs if you have to change them.

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