Mystery oil leak

[AZmike]

I've noticed a thin coating of oil and a few drops along the bottom of my transmission near where it connects to the engine. My guess is that the seal on the flywheel side of the engine is leaking, or maybe it's the shift rod seal. The leak is slow enough that I'm having trouble finding the source. Has anyone had a similar problem? Where did the leak end up being? How big a job is pulling the 5 speed so I can get to the crankshaft seal? Would I just need to pull both half-shafts, disconnect the clutch cable and reverse switch, remove the correct bolts and drop it out?

I'm not planning to do this job right away, but I'd like to know what I would be jumping into when I start.

I'd probably switch out the clutch while I had everything apart too. It's working fine now, but once the tranny is out I figure it's a good idea. The engine is stock so I don't need a lot of grabbing power, I just want something durable that I won't have to mess with again any time soon.

Any advice is appreciated.

[Jareds 89 LX-i]

Mine has a little oil in that exact same area. It too is a very very slow leak. There's never any drops of oil on the ground, it's just a little wet underneath with a little oil. I figure after 300k miles it's probably coming from the rear main crank seal. If my clutch ever decides to die (it's still the original!), I'll replace the seal. Until then I'm not going to worry too much about it. It doesn't go through hardly any oil at all, so I don't think it's a huge problem.

[Jareds 89 LX-i]

Oh, I've never dropped the tranny before, so I can't give ya any advise on that. It will be an adventure for me too!

[AZmike]

Usually there are no drops. I just noriced because my car sat on jackstands for 10 days. I was in the middle of a timing belt swap when I had to go out of town for a while. I was wondering if it would be worth the effort. It sounds like it's not, at least unitl it gets worse. But if I'm not able to my tranny's fill bolt loose I may end up replacing the seal, clutch and transmission all at once when the oil gets nasty enough (or leaks enough) to kill the bearings and gears.

[ACCORD EX]

wow guys ! mine is leaking too ! a very small one like yours Jared ! but i'll leave till my clutch dies too and replace it !
i haven't done a clutch job in my accord before but i did it on other cars ! and hell yeah ! it's a tough job !

if i were you i would leave it like this ! but be sure to check your oil level !

BTW : here is what you need to remove when removing the tranny !

drain tranny oil
remove drive shafts ( this means removing the front wheen , lower ball joint and tie rod end nut )
remove the starter
remove clutch cable
remove tranny mounting bolts !

BTW an OIL SEAL job is pain in the ass ! you can put the new seal in and it may develope a leak ! yeah !! it happened to me once ! then you'll have to do all the job again and get a new seal and shorten the spring inside the seal !


MIKE

[shepherd79]

it took me one day just to take axels and prep work. and took me another day to drop the transmition and putt everything back. i did all that by myself.

[ACCORD EX]

nice work Alex !

i hope i could do it !
what socket size did you use for tranny mounting bolt ! ?

MIKE

[smufguy]

they should be 14 mm. i guess, those damn bolts need an impact gun or a 1/2" drive long add ratchet or a breaker bar.

[POS carb]

fun.

[ACCORD EX]

very nice pic Eric !

and thanx smufguy !

MIKE