Tranny Fluid Leak. Need your Help

[Chris W]

I need you all to put on your technician caps for a second and help me diagnose a problem with my transmission. If you were to find the transmission drain plug (driver's side of tranny) and go straight up to the connecting point of the driveshaft inboard joint this is the location that fluid is leaking from. (See drawing below.)

After noticing a small puddle (size of a quarter) in my driveway I proceeded to crawl under the car and degrease the entire area. My NSX is not my daily driver so when I got home from work last night I started up the car and let it warm up to normal temp. I then shut it off to wait for any signs of leakage. When I woke up this morning and checked in the same location it had started to leak again from the location indicated by the red arrow. This tells me that the car did not have to be in motion in order for the leak to continue.

This is the point where I need your expertise. Have any of you had this sort of thing happen and if so what was the diagnosis of the problem.

 

[acuraace]

Originally posted by Chris W:
I need you all to put on your technician caps for a second and help me diagnose a problem with my transmission. If you were to find the transmission drain plug (driver's side of tranny) and go straight up to the connecting point of the driveshaft inboard joint this is the location that fluid is leaking from. (See drawing below.)
Check and make sure the oil is not coming from above(v-tech valve or valve cover)
if not it may be an axle seal(hope is did not fail from too much play in trans/diff.)

After noticing a small puddle (size of a quarter) in my driveway I proceeded to crawl under the car and degrease the entire area. My NSX is not my daily driver so when I got home from work last night I started up the car and let it warm up to normal temp. I then shut it off to wait for any signs of leakage. When I woke up this morning and checked in the same location it had started to leak again from the location indicated by the red arrow. This tells me that the car did not have to be in motion in order for the leak to continue.

This is the point where I need your expertise. Have any of you had this sort of thing happen and if so what was the diagnosis of the problem.

 

[Chris W]

acuraace,
Not sure what happened to your response.

Here is the actual photo I just took of the location of the leak. This is the view looking up from the underside of vehicle on driver's side of tranny. Leak indicated by red arrow. If any of you can diagnose the problem I would greatly appreciate it. Any idea on cost for parts/labor?

 

[Bruce]

Hey Chris,
That is called the "Drive Axle Shaft Oil Seal.(42x63x12.5 mm)" It's around $10.00 dollars for the seal.It's simple routine but some make it seem like the whole suspension must come out.Passenger side is smaller and more difficult to access.If your car has low miles,... the seals have dried out. Common with cars not driven enough.Lately I've found wrong oil and poor maintenance to be the culprit.If you have high miles, well its to be expected and consider changing other side.Worn out suspension also plays a major role in excessive wear on seals,CV joints too.Did you notice leak after a long drive was recently taken? Lower it recently? Does the shifter seem slightly notchy-er or hard to get in 1st? This would be a sign of low transmission oil.

 

[Chris W]

Bruce,
Thanks for the reply. My local mechanic, Mr. Mark Basch himself diagnosed it to be exactly that problem. It could have been cause by any of the three reasons you mentioned.
One-The car sat for six months before I purchased it.
Two-I did lower it about 3 months ago.
and Three-It's a '93 with 64,500 miles on it.

Is this something that the average weekend warrior can do himself without the need of special tools. I lowered the car myself so I have most of the tools already. I also have the service manual but I don't always agree with there removal/installation procedures.

Any help would greatly be appreciated.

 

[cobalt]

Chris,

I had the same problem after I had a new clutch installed. When they pull the transaxle off, they can pull too hard some times and pull the seal out, which tends to create a small tear and/or damage the metal spring o-ring inside the rubber seal. My leak was about a quart per month. The leaking is minimal when driving, because of the way the transaxle is cut (forces the tranny fluid back into the case when rotating), but will leak quite a bit when the car is just sitting still.

Like the others said, you just need to replace the seal. You'll have to unbolt the lower suspension arm so you can pull the transaxle out...follow the shop manual. The techs at AofB did it for me in about an hour total time.

Andie

[This message has been edited by weiku (edited 03 May 2001).]

 

[Bruce]

Chris,
Yes, It's very easy.Experienced,it can take less than an hour although I would go with the service manual instructions.Trust me ,it's always correct.It also allows you to understand the setup.Once you have done it the correct way you will then see how you could of cut a few corners.You may be able to figure it out once you get started.
Good Luck

 

[Chris W]

Problem has been taken care of. I started thinking about all the disassembly of the rear suspension just to get at the axle assembly and realized I was going to need an alignment afterwards. I ended up taking it to Basch Acura today and had Mark change the seal and do the alignment for me. Very inexpensive part to replace by the way. Thanks again for all the help with this matter.