Jenny Tran

A few months ago, my car started having transmission leakage problems. The oil would always drain out onto my driveway. I brought my '07 Accord Coupe into Honda Services for diagnosis and repair. They told me that my car's axle seals were broken. Not just one side, but both sides. The manager talked to me about how it's rare for a car to have both seals broken. Nonetheless, I paid the $610 and went about my business. I was happy with the repair until last Saturday. My car started again with the jerky problems and lagging upon acceleration from a complete stop. I was sure that this was a transmission problem again. I brought my car back to the dealership and they told me that it was the same problem reoccurring with my axle seals. They fixed it and didn't charge me. Just one day after getting my car back from Honda, the transmission is leaking its pink fluid onto my driveway once again. Angry and frustrated, I brought my car back to Honda early this morning. They just called me and told me that I needed a new transmission. The clerk told me that she would talk to the manager about applying my previous paid $610 towards a new transmission. I'm angry, lost, and confused as to how this problem came about. My car never gave me problems, it seems like ever since they touched it a few months ago... the problems won't stop. They offered me a used or new transmission, $2700 or nearly $4000 respectively. Right now, I just feel like trading in my vehicle for a new one. I'm tired of the problems. What are my best choices? What would you do if you were in my situation?

I have to return and speak to the manager on Friday.

94EG8

Most likely you have a bad differential bearing in the transmission causing the differential to move around in the transmission case (the axles are splined into the transmission) which in turn tore up the axle seals.

Jenny Tran

Hey, thanks for responding. You were right on the money with this one. I was told that my entire transmission needed to be replaced because of the bad differential bearing. I brought my car to a local transmission shop because Honda wanted to charge me an arm and a leg. My car has been sitting in the shop since Monday and I'm getting a bit worried. He's charging me $2300 w/tax included to replace my transmission with a rebuilt one. My question is... how can I trust that they are not going to open up my transmission and attempt to fix the bearing instead of replacing it? I'm just worried that I might have gave my car to them too quickly and without doing much research to see if they were trustworthy. Can a differential bearing be fixed or does the transmission really need to be replaced? Thanks.