Weeping ...?
Mel,
If you've got a wet, red belly, you should NOT fly this airplane until you get the leak fixed... or you may find more on the belly than just red 5606.
Sounds like you have a slow weep somewhere in the system. Time to get out the Service Manual for YOUR airplane and read-up FIRST and go through the troubleshooting section.
You didn't mention it, but did the airplane just come out of maintenance or annual with some hoses being replaced, or did this problem just show up one day? Most of the time there are symptoms leading up the problem.
You should completely clean off the belly, then pull the landing gear circuit breaker and pump the doors open with the emergency hand pump. Visually inspect those areas you can gain access to with a mirror and a bright flashlight. Any Sears store or automotive store carries the small inspection mirrors. And we find the smaller flashlights with Krypton bulbs give the brightest light.
Since it sounds like your problem is related to the front hydraulic pump, check the hydraulic actuators and hoses in the nose wheel well area... up front you have the nose gear door actuator, the main nose gear actuator, and the up/down lock actuator, the latter which is back behind the nose gear on the pilot's side.
Let us know what you find... your exploratory efforts will help keep the expense to a minimum when it comes time to get your mechanic involved.
SkyKing
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