I've mentioned on here previous about a burning smell coming from the rear-passenger side of the engine that's been going on for years. Two days ago I was doing an oil change and noticed some sort of grease substance. I took some lousy pics while I was under there and in a hurry, and some today with a boroscope while it was on the ground and with the front passenger-side tire off. I originally thought the axle was bad but now that I've looked closer at the pictures it appears to be some sort of grease coming from the end of the driveshaft (top arrow) ? I checked the transmission fluid and it's unchanged in the 7 years since I changed the fluid in 2012. No engine oil is leaking (the drip from the drain bolt is because I just had just loosened it). The substance reminds me of the thermal compound that is used for computer processors/heatsinks. The grease is coming down on to some parts (3rd arrow) and onto a heatshield above the exhaust pipe (2nd arrow), which is probably causing the odor that I smell directly above, and then finally onto the front of the frame (bottom 2 arrows). The finger swipe on the side of the frame is what is in the picture of the stuff on my finger. It looks black in the picture but it's a very, very, very, very dark gray or silver. So what is going on??? The more I read the more confused I am. 2008 TL 33,000 miles. Other than this problem the underside of the car is very clean with very little rust. The car rides fine, accelerates fine, no noises or vibrations.

 

To get in the ballpark, If I had to guess, by looking at the supplied pics, I'd speculate that it appears the (#27 on the link below) outer half shaft seal, (91260-SJK-003) on the half shaft assembly is leaking (top arrow) or inner bearing (#26) 91057-SH3-008?

https://www.acuraoemparts.com/v-2008...aft-half-shaft

 

Thanks for your reply! Looking over the TL service manual and looking closer over things it would appear that if there is a problem your suggestion of the outer half shaft seal is correct. The thing is I am still not sure what is going on. Several videos here for the mid 2000s TSX and one shows some silver grease in my 'leak' area and the mechanic leaving it (he was replacing the seal where the intermediate shaft enters the transmission), while the other picture from a different video shows it disassembled with zero silver grease outside or inside so not sure what is going on. Also the shop manual for the 3G TL shows the assembly of the drive shaft into the intermediate shaft only using .02-04 ounces of grease. It sure seems like there's a lot more grease slung everywhere than that! That burning smell was there since at least fall 2012 when the car had 20,500 miles. Seems incredible that it failed that early. Is there a chance that a glob of it was slopped around the seal and it isn't leaking? If it IS leaking some threads say to leave it no biggie and others say it's serious. Not sure what to do? I at least want to clean it to get rid of that burning smell but I don't want to start messing around with the car if there's nothing really wrong and the car is working great....

 

If you have the TL shop manual, look specifically for the Intermediate Shaft Reassembly section. The attachment provided below is from my 2G CL Helms manual. It will look slightly different, perhaps, from your 3G TL intermediate shaft; however, it will serve to show the point I want to make regarding the outer seal. It shows a 'blow-up' display that states: Pack the interior of the outer seal. 3.0-4.0 g (0.11-0.14 oz) This is probably the grease that has leaked out over time. In addition, I agree that it seems odd that this would occur with your low mileage TL; however, there is something going on because that 'leakage' shown in your pics seems excessive, as you state. If the inner CV boot is intact and not spewing its grease with centrifugal force, it may be prudent to have this looked at none the less.