steve

'03 TLS with 120K orig owner orig. transmission. All works fine. Noticed transmission fluid leak last week so brought it to dealer as I get free oil changes. While doing latter was told my passenger rear sway bar was broken. No noises, drives well but told not an emergency to replace but performance on curves might be affected as will wear to rear tire. Also told trans. leak, I believe, from filter housing and access is from above removing battery and air filter housing. They did rec fixing leak emergently as it is more than a drip. In fact told not to drive car but think that may be extreme esp if check level daily. Anyone had these problems?

01tl4tl

welcome to the forum!

Yes any trans fluid leak is reason to fix immediately- AND this one should be easy
There is a DIY on here for replacement of the spin-oil atf filter on top of trans-
roughly under battery tray area and back a little

That filter could be loose- probably never changed? most dont know of its existence!
There are a few shift solenoids down there- can be a gasket problem, you want to remove and clean the screens
inside those anyway = 2 birds!!

the diy thread list - link is: https://acurazine.com/forums/second-...thread-706083/

Use only Honda Genuine from acura or honda dealer DW-1 auto trans fluid for fwd cars

Are you doing annual fluid changes? every few years? ever?

01tl4tl

rear sway bar itself broken??? unlikely unless you curb shot it big time! bent the wheel etc.

More likely- failure of the rubber part that connects the sway bar to the frame,
its called an END LINK.
Aftermarket parts are fine for this, and some have better way to tighten them properly than stock ones~
Do you push the car hard in cornering? if not, you wont notice anything besides an occasional thumping
when bar moves more than desired = makes contact with the under-body panel.
You didnt know it was bad when you went in right?!

If you have to make a priority list- fix atf leak today!!! deal with sway bar when you can.
Many things can be done alone or with a neighbors help- that guy with a compressor in the garage is always good to know!

srossne

Thanks for your comments. You are correct, never changed that filter. However, have changed ATF very regularly since new. Agree will get leak fixed promptly as really more than slow drip but still driving car and have not needed to add yet. Like in past (other cars) those tranny leaks always seem to look worse than they are. Sway bar will be low priority as it was surprise as car drives well and no noises. Don't push car and never have ie rel. conservative driver.

srossne

Just spoke to mechanic and said my tranny leak is a rusted transmission cooler line which will need replacing. Said not uncommon problem in 13 yr old car driven in northeast. I have noticed a lot of undercarriage rust so wonder if those car washes offering undercarriage spray is worth the extra few bucks in the winter.

01tl4tl

uh-huh!!!! salt eats everything!!!! wash it away after every big snow storm/use of salt on roads
You would do a better job with self-serve wash, gently rinse the wheel wells and under the car front to back- gently!!
Some car washes use High pressure underneath- driving water into places it doesnt belong, and wedging the aforementioned
sand or salt into those crevices!!
pretty much opposite of the intended outcome~

I dont care how much anti-corrosion acura applied...nature wins every time!
At one time I had beach-runner suzuki jeep- That thing took an hour of rinsing with a hose, while laying on the ground...
just for 1 day of playing in the sand!!
Imagine what a winters worth of road salt and sand does~

You might want to pull the wheels before winter, apply some special Moly grease on the hub to rim contact point
So they will come off easily next year... when you go to flush the brake fluid after winter!