My parents borrowed my 02 TL-S today to go out of town. About 3 hours into their trip they noticed smoke coming out of the engine bay and the car started to slow down. They pulled over and saw what looked like oil all over they place. They had my car towed back to the house ($468).

My transmission oil is low and there is tranny fluid all over the transmission. So much so that I can not tell where it is leaking from. I just changed my oil yesterday and did not notice any leaks anywhere. There is tranny oil on top of the tranny and on the bottom. The tranny was replace about 3 years ago at 66k and now I have about 122k on it. I have never noticed a problem with the transmission before. There are no dash lights or the D light blinking. Where should I start to look? Please help!!!

Thanks,

 

use engine GUNK degrease and clean the car up- then trace the fluid loss down to its origin
At this point I would guess an axle seal or similar
there are few places for trans fluid to leak out from

 

01tl4tl, thanks for the tip. I will try that today.

 

Update. I cleaned the area where I saw tranny oil. I then filled the transmission back up and drove around to see if where the leak was coming from. Drove it on the highway, on regular roads and it shifts fine and no leak. I called a friend that called a friend that is a honda tech. He told me that my traynny could have overheated and vented oil out of the breather tube. He is not sure why my tranny would overheat. This is the second one.
Any ideas?

 

The only ways that the fluid would came out from the breather is either the level was too high, did you added the fluid ? Or the converter is over heating itself, if it does, the fluid will be very dark in color, and it will smell burnt.

 

I didn't add any fluid to the car. I does have a sort of burn smell to it. Should I replace the converter.

 

i had the same thing happen to my car before, but on the previous owner though, so second hand report, but also was origional tranny at like 93k (currently has like 114k on it)
but first of all WHAT BRAND OF FLUID WAS IN IT??? , if you don't know that is fine also, then also did this seem to happen as you had the fluid exchanged recently maybe, and the first real constant highway driving on it???

and as far as your friend not knowing why it would come out, called a couple of dealers when it happened on mine, and none of them had even heard about it happening before either, so the exact issue causing the puking is not too well documented

and i could not find a leak on mine either, so don't feel bad about not being able to find something
but also where did that atf seem to be concentrated kinda, under the battery kinda, so like towards that front left corner of the tranny (then it all came back along the driverside framerail, and then swirled around and coated the back of the car with ATF, like a fine mist sorta)

also mine did it along the highway also, like you are describing, like if you were on a trip (mine did it like an hour after starting to drive though, but both are still after extended highway driving at a constant speed)

converter replace NO, but change the fluid a couple of times to help get rid of that smell (and change out all the fluid), hey mine has lasted another 20k so far since it literally puked itself, and still has quite a few miles left to go (it does have some issues, but nowhere close enough to warrant replacing it quite yet), also don't forget to change the filter out too, since debris is probably literally be plugging it some

 

also with it seeming to die on them, easy the fluid level dropped too low, so it could not hold any gears anymore, simple enough, but why it lost the fluid is the question though.... lol

 

also with mine, the previous had his dad with him, so he was more then likely NOT anywhere close to pushing the extremes of the car, and was just cruising along on the highway at the speed limit (or about) like what it sounds like your parents where also doing

 

I would check and make sure that level is ok, drive it some more on the high way to make sure that the transmission shift good, and not vented out any more, if it seems alright then i would change the fluid and i would also change the external filter. Remember that the fluid leaked out, that means there is something wrong happened. So take it easy on it. Good luck to you.

 

or he had the wrong fluid in there, and it foammed too much, and came out...

 

I am going to take it on a longer drive today. I have not changed or added any ATF since the tranny was replaced 60k ago. I was not aware that the tranny had an external filter. Where is the external filter located at? I guess the only think I can do for now is change the fluid out and filter, carry some fluid and tools with me and see what happens.

any more recommendations is always appreciated.

Big thanks to everyone!!!

 

so first question is WHO did the tranny,so it might give an idea of the fluid used

but here is an easy suggestion, is ONLY use HONDA ATF-Z1 fluid (if that is the correct name , something like that)
i have redone the trip of where it puked on the previous owner, and no issues , basically what is happening i think is that our trannies are VERY big foamers of the fluid, and if the fluid does not have enough anti-foaming additive in it (that most aftermarket fluid does not have enough, mine puked itself on Valvoline max-life full synthetic fluid btw)), that once you get under ideal foaming conditions (extended highway driving) that it just eventually foams itself all out of the case

also as far as repeating the same conditions again, i have driven the other way also (north vs south) with no issues either, so as long as you stick to that honda fluid you should be allright

 

and that external filter, try this http://www.hondapartsunlimited.com/i...SPEED%20SENSOR
and it is part #9 btw (kinda a little to the right of the center then towards the bottom some, its the cylinder), expensive little f***ing filter, but hey better then a new trannie right now

and to give you an idea where it is on the trannie itself, look right next to the vent itself, lol but still be easier to find the filter itself though, the vent is kinda hidden
so basically it is striaght down from the intake tube, and right behind the battery (intake has to removed to access it, easy enough, and the battery can also stay in the car, so no worries there)

 

friesm2000,

Thanks for the info. I will see about getting that filter.

 

your parents wich ever one was driving probably put the car is d5 ss mode by a mistake and drove around in 1st and 2nd gear only until the tranny overheated i mention that as stupid as it sounds because i did that the first time i drove my car not knowing what ss was

 

pretty soon a dad notices the rpm screaming on the freeway- 3 hours into the trip~
or the rev limiter would be going crazy..
there are ways the car lets you know you screwed up

this trans prob was a different issue than operation of shifter, but good sharing of experience clean

If you were driving on the freeway and went to ss it would stay in 4th or 5th gear

 

update, I drained and replaced the ATF 3 times as suggested by some members. This process is really easy, only bad thing is waiting between the ATF changes due to heat buildup between test drives. So far everything is good. The car shifts really smooth and I have not had it puke on me again. That said, I have not driven the car for more than 30 minutes so I will have to test it sooner or later. In the trunk I have backup ATF and tools to remove the ATF bolt and a funnel.

As for scenarios to cause this problem. My dad said he may have mistakenly put my car into SS mode but can't really remember. I have learned a lesson from all of this, never let my parents borrow my car.

 

only if there old

good to know your tranny is still alive