Hello everyone, well I bought my wife a 01 honda civic and well this morning I noticed that it has a leak, I smelled it and it smells like gear oil. I haven't been able to find out the exact location, other than it's between the bellhousing and the engine on the bottom left hand corner it's a lil drip. I am thinking it a seal of some sort, I checked the fill plug and it seems to be losing the gear oil. Anyone have any tips on what it can be leaking from? I thought maybe rear main seal, but since it's leaking gear oil it has to be leaking from somewhere in the tranny right? I gonna buy a jack so I can lift it up, but I want to get a good idea before I hit up the transmission shop. thanks in advance!

 

Did you recently replace the CV axles? There is a seal where the driver's and passenger's side axles insert into the transmission/differential. One or both of those seals may be damaged.

 

it looks like the driver side was replaced. has a barcode sticker on the cv axle.

 

Yeah, look for the leak in the gap between the driver's side axle CV joint and the transmission. If you find it there, then the transmission seal likely needs to be replaced. By the way, there shouldn't be a large gap between the axle and transmission (compare both sides). If the gap is excessive on the driver's side, then the axle may not be inserted fully into the transmission.

 

And that would cause a significant leak.

 

Just had front trans seal changed in our 05 lx with only 70k miles. was leaking somewhere btw the trans and the engine, was very hard to diagnose. had to put uv dye in the trans. if its leaking from the axle its much easier to see.

 

well I went ahead and had the driver side axel seal changed, and well this morning guess what? The leak has started again... it looks smaller than before but it's still dripping. this sucks! what else could it be? which is the front trans seal? Is it a hard job to do? costly?

 

The seals seem to drip oil for a short time after replacing an axle, possibly due to remnant transmission fluid that was spilled/leaked during the axle replacement. Keep an eye on whether the leak soon subsides. Nonetheless, contact the shop to tell them what you see and your concern.

 

well, I noticed that the leak is not as bad anymore. in fact it has really almost stopped... I will keep monitoring, my Dad is a mechanic and he changed it for me last night... I wonder if maybe the bearing might be causing the leak? thanks for the info, I really appreciate it!

 

update: I took it into a Amaco and they said the new seal is leaking... gonna charge me 80 bucks part and labor included... I will be picking it up this afternoon... hope it works this time!