[paarlberg]

I just noticed a small leak under my Ody after the transmission was replaced last month.

The leak is along the crack between the tranny and the engine.

You can see 3 bolts there without heads, that is where I see a small leak. This is looking from the front passenger side towards driver side.

Am I seeing this correctly? Or are these the bolts from the other side? I am hoping the later.. and that they can be tightened some since there are some clean threads exposed.

Sorry about the bad pic quality, was my phone camera

 

[paarlberg]

I just took another look at it, it appears that the bolts are from the other side.. I guess I should have looked at it harder..

These could be snugged up some and would probably fix the minor leak. Is this something I can do with a ratchet set, or do I need an impact set?

 

[Glen1959]

Why not take it back to the shop that replaced it? They should correct the problem. If you mess with it and have any further issues or the leak gets worse they won't want to hear it..

 

[paarlberg]

Unfortunately, the shop is 5 hours away. If it isn't something simple, then I will take it back to them.

 

[davedrivesody]

First, remove the bolts and clean the threads. Then, clean out the threads in the transmission housing. (This is to ensure dry contact between the bolt and the housing so the torque in the next step is accurate.) Lastly, tighten them only with a torque wrench to the correct torque for these bolts. (Sorry, I don't have my shop manual with me to give you the settings.) The transmission housing is aluminum and can be easily stripped or distorted by improper tightening.

If the leak continues after that, something else is the problem.

 

[paarlberg]

There was a small bolt (10mm) to the left of the picture that was wet around it. I did tighten it a little and took a short 5 mile drive to test.

I wiped down that area prior to the drive to make sure I could get a good result.

So far I don't see anything showing.

I checked the fluid and it is at the lower mark, need to get some fluid ASAP.

 

[Glen1959]

Don't add any fluid till you check it when it is GOOD-N-HOT sitting compleatly LEVEL and use the same fluid if possable.

 

[wadechamberlain]

The leak is along the crack between the tranny and the engine.

There is no fluid in the space between the trans and the engine. Could be a leak at the rear main seal of the engine or the front seal on the trans.

 

[overboostin]

looks like the bolts are just missing . the transmisson on my van has bolts there ..

 

[paarlberg]

I see the bolts on the other side that match the holes, and I can see the bolt shafts (for lack of a better word) in the holes.

I topped it up with fluid (was about a quart low) and will monitor it to see if I can find the leak. Hopefully, it is something simple, not a major seal.

 

[paarlberg]

Taking it to my local shop today, he is finally open after the holidays. Fingers crossed that it something simple and cheap.

 

[paarlberg]

My fingers being crossed for the winning lottery numbers worked out about as well..

It is the front seal. I will update once I hear back from the transmission shop.

 

[paarlberg]

Good news.. I spoke with the shop, they will be taking care of it no charge . Very nice people to work with. Although it is a 5 hour drive, I have to be near there next month and will take it then.

Thanks to everyone that replied. I love this site

 

[gman350]

Re: Re: Transmission bolts, are the heads missing?

There is no fluid in the space between the trans and the engine. Could be a leak at the rear main seal of the engine or the front seal on the trans.

My 2004 did this, it was a bad rear main seal. Thank goodness I have an extended warranty.

Need to determine if you're leaking trans fluid or engine oil.

 

[paarlberg]

It is tranny fluid, a pretty pink color .

 

[paarlberg]

Update

I took the lovely 5.5 hour drive up last night and took to the shop this morning. After a few hours of diagnostics to found the leak. It is the front seal on the tranny.

Good news: They are going to just replace the tranny.

Bad news: They needed 8 hours to complete it and it would not have been done until tomorrow. So I climbed back in the Ody and drove home (5.5 hours). Since I wasn't able to stay another night.

I have to go back up this weekend so I will drop it off for them to fix while we are a couple hours down the road. We will pic it up Monday.

Hope this one works without any issues.

Will update when the tranny has been swapped out and tested.

 

[chiody]

When I had the tranny replaced under the extended coverage by Honda, it leaked in the exact spot like your's. Fortunately, it stopped by itself in a few days and have been fine for 60K miles ... knocking on wood...

 

[paarlberg]

Unfortunately, mine was still leaking, not as badly, but was still leaking.

I am doing the drive back up to them this morning (tired of the driving). It should be ready to go Monday. They were good about doing a complete tranny swap vs just replacing the seal. I guess they wanted to make sure that they didn't have any more warranty claims on this Ody. They do have a 2 year unlimited mile warranty.

 

[POSGUY]

Front seal, huh. I notice a few drops the other day, I must get under there now to see where its from. I just had the transmission replaced at an independent about a month ago, I hate to have to put more time into this damn tranny by going back to the shop and possibly not being able to use the car for a day. Never another Honda! All the good is easily outweighed by the 3 trannys, bad motor mounts and everything else this car is so finicky about.

 

[paarlberg]

Mine should be ready today. I asked them to drive it around to make sure it is leak free before I go back to get it. They will keep it until this weekend and double, triple, quadruple check everything.

They have been good about their warranty. The only issue is they are not local, so it requires a 5 hour (each way) road trip to get anything done.