I was under my car draining engine oil when I noticed that the right front axel is wet (no drip) from CV boot towards the center of the car (tranny). The axel is dry coming out of the tranny. I did not see any visible damage on the boot.

3 months ago I had a rebuild auto tranny installed by acura dealer under warranty (3rd gear slip) at 76Kmi.
I don't know if they had to remove/reinstall right CV boot ?
I know they had to replace pass side knuckle assembly with speed sensor.

I took my car to a dealer and they said "the boot is doing what it is designed to do". That did not sound right to me.

I still have 3 weeks(!) of extended warranty left on my TL
Should I go back to the dealership and bring hell with me?

If the boot keeps seeping grease like this, how long do I have before I need a new axel?

Thanks!

 

Once in a while a CV boot clamp will not be tight enough and grease will seep out, so I would take it back to the dealer and have it repaired as no grease should be seen outside the boot.

 

Thanks for a quick reply

So here is dumb question, but I must be sure before I go back to the dealer: does replacing auto tranny in 2004 TL involve disconnecting driveshaft from the right axle and therefore removing CV boot?

 

They need to remove the right shaft

No

 

So I spent some quality time with flashlight and my phone/camera under my car and it turns out that:
1. - the good news is the passenger side CV boot is not leaking.
2.- the bad news is that intermediate shaft bearing is (or was) leaking and that causes the differential side of intermediate driveshaft to be oily.

I removed the leaking grease from the shaft with brake cleaner and will keep an eye on it for a few days.
Sorry for misidentifying the leak initially, but these components are hidden above subframe and exhaust and not easy to see.

What do you think the long/short term damage maybe?
Should I be worried or just keep an eye on it?
Can the bearing be repacked with grease without removing it? (!)

Did the dealer have to remove intermediate driveshaft to replace transmission?
Could it possibly be a dealer’s mistake, say, they forgot to replace the intermediate bearing while disassembling the driveshaft for tranny replacement or simply did not press the seal back in properly?



References : see page 16-25 of TL Manual for intermediate shaft bearing and the complete intermediate shaft assembly.
See page 16-3 for component locations.


Differential side of the right (intermediate) driveshaft (dry):




The opposite (intermediate bearing) side with grease seepage:




The other (outer) side of the bearing (right CV joint is on the right):

 

Normally a bearing of that nature will not emit grease in the amount as shown and if it did, the bearing would be kaput. As it's an A/T it can't be leaking out of the trans as the fluid would be red in color, especially if the trans has been replaced recently. As you did, I'd clean the entire area and inspect the area frquently to make certain there is nothing leaking from another area. I've used talcum powder to locate leaks, but with a moving object, the powder probably wouldn't stay put.

 

After all my cleaning 3 days before, the driveshaft appears wet again. I could not locate any other leak under the hood

Going to a dealer in a day, I guess I will ask them to replace the driveshaft bearing under warranty?

Any other ideas are welcome!

 

Even though this was an old thread, I'm very interested in knowing where that grime/sludge came from. There can't be so much grease coming out of the intermediate shaft bearing that is a small size sealed bearing.

My 2008 TL with 100k miles has a similar issue, but not nearly as much grime though, just a thin layer.