Just got a call from the repair shop. Problems are starting to pile up. First an oil leak which was thought to be at the oil pan gasket but is in fact the rear main seal ($1050), side mounts all cracked as well. My car only has 70k miles on it, I drive it hard but not too hard. Has anyone had any related issues? and could this be related to my driving habits?

 

Are you the first owner?

 

Sorry, that rear main seal is $$$. The motor mounts are known to fail early, especially in 6MT's.

 

Year of your car?

 

go to a private shop ... i know my friend got the rear main seal done on his car for 600 bux. the mounts also get it done at a private shop. you could probably get everything done for around 1k and an indy shop

 

Has your car had the PS recall done?

How did you notice the oil leak? Is it leaving drops on the pavement? If not, I wouldn't worry about it yet. Have you looked at the oil leak yourself?

Take a look at this thread and the links in it concerning possible connection between PS recall and rear main seal leaks:

https://acurazine.com/forums/3g-tl-problems-fixes-114/can-anyone-tell-where-leak-comes-731001/

By side mounts, do you mean motor mounts? If so, not unheard of. There are some aftermarket mounts you can buy but it's a rougher ride with these.

It's also possible that your broken mounts MAY be causing the leak and repairing the mounts MAY reduce/eliminate the leak

 

I am the 2nd owner of the vehicle.. it is a 2004. Yes I meant the motor mounts. And I did see where the oil leak was coming from, it is in fact the rear main seal. Drips were beginning to leak onto the driveway. I'm not sure about the PS recall, I do not have the extended warranty.

 

I'd consider fixing the mounts first and then see what happens with the leak. Is the leak causing a noticeable drop on the dip stick level?

There are DIY threads for replacing mounts.

 

The dip stick is hardly showing any drop in level at all.

 

If you have a 6mt you might want to get the leak fixed if it gets too bad.

At this point, for what they want to charge you, I would try a high mileage oil that contains more than the usual seal swell agents. Mobil One High Mileage is good. Redline naturally conditions seals but it may not work as good as Mobil One HM. Stay away from additives though.

At a minimum negotiate the price. I don't know if the TL uses a 1 pc seal where the trans has to come out or if it uses a 2pc seal where the oil pan comes off but either way you're looking at 98% labor in that cost. They could come down by 25% and still make a huge profit from you.

 

Tranny has to be dropped and the seal is only $8. If you replace all the bolts as well, the total parts only come out to $135 or so. The rest is labor, so you might be able to get them to come down. If it were me, I wouldn't spend the $$ yet. If you want to contemplate DIY, NE14RoxCJ did this himself and did a very nice write up.

 

if you do the rear main seal there SHOULD NOT be any labor to install the front engine mount. subframe has to be removed inorder to remove transmission. as far as the side engine mount it ltierally takes less than 5 minutes to do. if i didnt have tools, the most id pay for someone to have it done is 50 bux. warranty time is .3. thats not even 15 minutes. search for a write up on this mount. if not i i will help.
also how did you verify the seal is leaking. did you removed the flexplate/converter cover and looked in there for wetness?

 

I feel your pain, had my transmission replaced free of charge three weeks about and after bringing it home the rear main is leaking oil all over the driveway. Took it back in yesterday and I got that same $1050 quote.

 

????? Someone who knows more about transmission replacement chime in on this. Sounds like they possibly screwed up the seal during the transmission work and should be liable for repairing the seal????

 

I've talked to a few mechanics and some people on here about it, basically there is no way to prove that they screwed it up. According to step 47 of the service manual transmission replacement, they are to remove the flex plate and inspect or replace if needed. Directly behind the flex plate is the rear main seal. Service managers defense was that they only replaced that transmission without touching the engine, but if they followed step 47, they should have. Supposed to get a call back on monday or tuesday from the ACS case manager as to what theyre willing to do.

 

I say BS. Pretty strange coincidence that the seal goes out the day you drive it home from the dealer....

Which dealer is this?

Take a close look at the service receipt and see if they charged Acura for a rear main seal (under parts). Also, when you talk to ACS, ask them to see if the dealer charged Acura for replacing the seal (parts and/or labor). Won't be the first time a dealer extracted $$$ from Acura for service/parts not performed/used.

What year service manual are you looking in? Can't find that step in the 2004 service manual.

 

Just shows transmission, PCM, brake cleaner and ATF I believe. Forgot to mention that its an 03 TL-S. Found this thread as well as the rear main failure after PS service threads by searching.

 

Also had the timing belt tensioner recall work done at the same time. Not sure how this procedure goes, but it's probably more similar to the PS work.