vrrodri

My 2004 EP3 sprung a tranny oil leak on driver side a month after I had the clutch replaced. I figured it was a bad oil seal so I took everything apart yesterday only to find a small piece of aluminum chipped off the oil seal lip cavity at the 7 o'clock position, it seems that area had been hit with something, maybe when they worked on the clutch replacement and removed the driveshaft...I cannot prove they messed up so now I am at a quandary. Is there something that I can use to fill in the small area missing? I am debating on using JB weld but if there is a better solution for aluminum bonding/filling I'd prefer that. I suspect that even with a new seal, the tiny crack reaching the underside edge of the oil seal might still be troublesome and leak. Any ideas?? I had never had to deal with anything like this...Thanks

utn

It sounds like a small amount of damage since it started leaking a month after your clutch job, I would JB Weld it and sand the surface smooth by hand. I wouldn't be worried about leaks if it feels smooth and round to the touch after the fix, since the seal does not have any rotation/friction against that part of the transmission. And the seal rubber might help compensate for imperfections. You could always JB Weld it, then also apply RTV Silicone sealant to the outer part of the seal to be double extra sure it wont leak.
I would be more worried if the aluminum was bent inwards towards the seal and effectively would pinch the seal, as that would be much harder to fix easily/correctly without any machining.

MotorMouth93

iTrader: (1)

I would just clean the chipped area and apply Hondabond RTV and see if that holds it., JBWeld/sanding is fairly involved and I'd treat that as a last resort.

Also if you post a pic of the damage we can better advise you.

feralcomp

If you think you can do a good job of getting the sealing surface back to a perfect cylinder after JB weld that would absolutely work; it's amazingly tough and very resistant to heat and oil.