A few days ago a pool of black substance appeared on my drive (it's actually a shared drive, but was located where I usually park), in a spot where my left side rear wheel is often above. At first I thought it was oil, but it seemed too black and didn't have the 'rainbow' oil effect. Any ideas what this could be? It may not be from my car at all, could have been another car parked there while I was away, although it is my car that's in that spot 95% of the time.

 

From what I have read on here rear shocks blowing is a common problem - It could be that

 

i had my rear shock go - was replaced under warranty... not sure about the black liquid though...

 

Have you checked your brake caliper/inside wheel for fluid leak, seals may have gone on piston. Check reservoir for fluid level.

 

Best thing to do is jack up the nearside rear, remove wheel and look all around under and around wheel arch. check the shock absorber/damper is dry and only dusty or rusty and the same with the brake caliper. If you see that it is wet or oily, take pictures and replace wheel then take to your Mazda dealer to get it replaced. I have already had 2 near side and 1 off side rear shock absorbers replaced and the pair of rear trailing arm bushes on our July 2008 Mazda 5. If you don't want to remove wheel get your digital still or video camera and take picture by just holding it under there and randomly taking pictures (probably on macro or night vision). See the enclosed picture of my rear damper. Mazda's first response to this was that they will not replace it under warranty until it is knocking........ I had to remind them that if this went for an MOT it would be a failure and not allowed to be on the road and I'll be contacting the appropriate authorities in this matter. After a little time an appointment was made to replace under warranty, only a 20 minute job as you see from the second picture of the fitting. I will assume your drive way is tarmac, the oil may have dissolved the tar to make it look black.

 

Many thanks for all the advice on this, I'm definatly going to take a digital camera to the underside of my Mazda.

 

That will be you rear shock absorber just had both of mine replaced at 49K miles, and the garage said it should be a brightly coloured liquid, but it looked black on the drive.