There is no tranny pan to speak of. The oil pan is cast aluminum, so maybe that is what you are referring to. In any event, the grime accumulates at the seam between the engine and the transmission. There is a small black rectangular cover at the seam, facing toward the engine. This is the area where the grime shows up. My van is in the shop right now having a number of problems addressed, including the oil seeping out in this area. I don't know if it's motor oil or trans fluid, and right now they don't either. They have a number of theories, but none of them sounded good to me. When they find the source definitively, I'll post it. It may take weeks, though, because the leak is very slow. They washed off the grime and want to wait to see where it comes from. I have a feeling they are going to end up pulling the transmission in order so see. There has been an issue of engine block porosity and cracking on the torque converter side of the engine block, at least that is what they told me. They want to see if that's it. If it is, I'm gonna raise a bit of hell if they want to swap the short block on a new (2600 miles) 25K vehicle.
Oily Grime on Tranny Pan
I had a question - is this oily/grime that everyone is describing occuring on the transmission pan? When I replaced the tranny oil at 30K I didn't notice any grime. I recently noticed some drops of fluid under the van. When I crawled underneath, I noticed that the tranny pan (has the drain plug) had some grime on the side near a "black" cover. The van has 42K on it now ('99 Ody). So based on this description, is this the same problem everyone else is experiencing and where is the fluid coming from? Is it oil or ATF? What is the repair for this and is there a service bulletin on this? Thanks.
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Determining whether some oil is engine oil or transmission fluid should be easy. All it takes is a nice white paper towel. If it is red or pink, it is transmission fluid. If not, it engine oil. I cannot believe a dealer would be puzzling over that question.
Jerry O.
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2001 Odyssey GG LX
Jerry O.
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2001 Odyssey GG LX
It's a thin film and it accumulates enough dirt that it's not easy to tell the color of the oil the dirt is sticking to.
I will be interested to hear if Honda does anything about a "film" of oil. I cannot imagine them doing any major disassembly until the leak becomes more serious, e.g. drips on the ground. If there is not enough oil there to determine whether it is engine oil or ATF, I would think it prudent to wait to see if it gets worse. Of course, I would be sure to document the complaint, in order to be assured that it would be addressed at a later date.
Jerry O.
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2001 Odyssey GG LX
Jerry O.
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2001 Odyssey GG LX
Jerry - has this problem typically been ATF or engine oil? Is there any trend at how many miles this starts occurring? Thanks.
<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Jerry O:
Determining whether some oil is engine oil or transmission fluid should be easy. All it takes is a nice white paper towel. If it is red or pink, it is transmission fluid. If not, it engine oil. I cannot believe a dealer would be puzzling over that question.
Jerry O.
</font>
The problems I have read about were engine oil, due to porosity in the engine casting. I have seen nothing about transmission fluid leaks, that I can remember.
Jerry O.
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2001 Odyssey GG LX
Jerry O.
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2001 Odyssey GG LX
FWIW, I was one of the early "oily film" posters. Now 5 months old and 3800 miles, and film is no worse than 3 months ago. I'm close to doing first oil change and will look closely while underneath. The film is thin and mostly grime, so can't tell if engine oil or tranny fluid.
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