My wife's 2006 Mazda 3 is leaking black oil onto the garage floor. I crawled under the car and the right front axle and back of the right front wheel are black with oil. I suspect, however, that the leak may be coming from above. I looked under the hood and found a device attached both to the front of the engine and to the top of the wheelwell. It is situated right under the white plastic fluid resevoir for the radiator. It is silver and on the top is a flush black rubber disc about 3 inches in diameter. I see evidence of oil leaking from this and down the wheel well. I don't think the oil is being sprayed upward onto this device. What is this thing and could it be the source of my oil leak? Many thanks.

 

sounds like you're describing the power steering pump. There's a filler for that right next to the windshield washer fluid, you can follow the tubing from that to the pump. The plus side is that it could be a hose or something that's loose, but being an 06 - it's probably time to have the fluid flushed as well.