Hey guys, I was wondering if you could help me out. I noticed an oil spot on my driveway this past week, and then while I had my car out of the garage noticed a larger one... I have pictures to help show the general location, it's on the non-transmission side so I doubt it's a seal or anything, at least for the transmission. Any help would be great.



Ignore the first spot in the last one, thats from having just washed my car. I do know it's motor oil, it smells very much like it. Lets hope this isn't something expensive to fix.

 

are you sure its not the motor mounts freaky hydraulic fluid?
was it pretty much centered- like where the motor mount is?
Put the car on ramps and look UP at the mount for wetmess or dirt accumulation
Look at the mount from above- does it appear collapsed?

If thats all clean the look at the plate where the trans and engine meet-under the car- a couple of 10mm bolts hold the inspection plate on- remove that to know if its trans seal or engine seal
Both will leak down into that area

 

First thing to ask is does it leak every time you park? or is it just this one or 2 times?

2nd make sure the oil filter is on tight, and look at the pan gasket to see if its leaking over there?

 

Tom, I don't think it's the mount, it seems like it is too far to the right side of the car to be that. I did check the side mount, it seems to be fine. My concern now is that perhaps my shock is blown, though I really couldn't tell you if I'd know or not. I did jack up 3 of the jack points, including the nearest to where the liquid is, none of them made any hissing noise, which is the symptom I recall hearing. Just because pictures can do better than any words I may say, here are some more for you folks. I am starting to think because of all of the fluid the shock may indeed be blown...







If the shock is blown I may just end up putting my stock suspension back in...

 

Yea that looks like a shock, Unless the oil is being sucked up there by air flow (which could be)

Does the ride seem any different?

 

To be quite honest, I haven't really noticed any difference in the way it rides/handles, still hurts quite bad hitting bumps in the road I had been hearing some noise from the rear suspension during the past two weeks, though I think that could technically (don't think it really is) be the seat moving some because I didn't bolt it back in. It sounds something like compressed air. The only thing done to the front recently was adjusting one of the shocks from 2 to 4, because I mistakenly left them uneven.

I'm beginning to think I have an oil leak and a blown shock, as there is now "oil" in two seperate spots, and since I don't have much room to move from side to side in the garage it should be in the same place one would think.

 

with oil all over the filter and shock and body- I would get some citrus engine cleaner and spray everything down and rinse off- use a carwash place if you have to
Once its clean you can see where the oil starts

 

That looks like it is shock oil to me. It cannot be engine oil from the look of your pictures.

 

I wish I could say that from these pictures it's surely the shock, who knows, maybe it's a blown shock and an oil leak. Is it safe to drive in the meantime until I can take the car to the dealer?

 

Turns out all four shocks are blown, one so bad it's leaking oil. Acura wanted $600 just for labor to replace them. At this point I also need new tires and an alignment.

 

Yeah, your tires are bald as hell.

 

The one picture isn't the worst, one of them I discovered today is down to the steel belting or whatever its called

 

Bad shocks will eat tires- as will alignment- which changes with bad shocks!
Contact who you got the Tokikos from- or try tokiko themself for warranty
Dealers charge high labor rates to cover the salesroom floor expenses.

 

Well right now my plan is to take the car and get the stock suspension put in, God forbid any of my original shocks are blown, and follow that up with an alignment. I will plan on getting new tires on Wednesday or Thursday if possible. I think I may be done with any sort of modding, planning on putting my 99-01 tail lights back in and selling most of my stuff on the black market, shocks excluded.

 

So your going to have the original shocks put back on??

 

Original shocks and springs, for now. I am thinking about getting the Bilstein but will seriously be broke if I do that, which isn't my goal at the moment.

 

I'm curious to find out why all four Tockico's blew? They are very good shocks. How old are they and how low are you dropped?

 

The shocks have about 10,000 miles on them, only dropped on Tein S-Techs. I have recollection of hitting several potholes quite hard, not sure how I messed up all four though.

 

Did you contact the seller? There is some warranty- and you have to start with the seller to obtain it.

 

I bought them second hand, thus any warranty no longer applies. That'll teach me to never buy used things for my car ever again

 

ahh so the last guy used them up totally and then sold them to you ---nice

 

Pretty much. At this point I really just want to get new tires and put my old suspension back in and sell whatever I can to help ease the strain on my wallet. I will never, ever buy anything used that has breakable, moving parts. Lesson learned

 

I find that the tokico adjustable illumina is more prone to failure than the HP blue. If you don't use the adjustable feature, it is better with HP blue, and it is cheaper.

 

That's what I'm experiencing right now. About 2 weeks ago someone posted that their tokicos were making a noise like the air was coming out of them. I couldn't fathom that , because if it were the nitrogen escaping, it would happen only one time. I finally found time to diagnose a squeak that my wife has been griping about for months. The rr strut "whistles" when you bounce the car. I think these things have a lifetime warranty. Of course I don't have any of my paperwork. If they aren't under warranty, I will go with a brand I have experience with, like kyb, or bilstein.

 

Well here's the update. Got the Tokico/Tein combo taken out, and the stock suspension put back in, looks like my problems are only going to continue. While I had my car parked in the driveway the RF shock, same one that was leaking with the Tokico, started leaking all over. I really and truly hate my car right now, I would love any excuse to sell it and move on with my life. I would love to see nothing short of my car going over a cliff, even if it meant driving some old POS for a year or two.

 

How many miles are on your OEM struts? You should have kept the Tein springs and purchased new Tokico Blues.

 

My mom said she replaced the shocks at 74000 miles, meaning that 29,000 (less the 2,000 I drove on the Tokico's), the front shock blew again. I noticed today the RF wheel felt like it was wobbling, checked all the lugs, I'm guessing something is loose behind the wheel. I'm going to Discount to get new tires in about an hour, then will go to Brakes Plus and have them do an alignment and see what the hell is wrong with the RF.