fdiddy

I was changing my oil today and saw something that worries me a lot! It appears that my transmission is dented with a gaping hole and all of the oil has escaped (who know how long ago). I can't recall ever smashing the bottom of my car on anything so I'm not sure how this happened. Here are three pictures that I took. They are around 3.5 megs each but I left them in their full size to capture as much detail as possible. The oil drip is from the oil filter that I had just removed, but the seal around where the hole is was pretty oily before I cleaned it up with a towel (residue not fresh).

http://img6.imageshack.us/gal.php?g=img1181j.jpg

If it is a problem please tell me what needs to be done and approximately how much the parts can be had for.

Thanks for the replies.

trustdestruction

that's the clutch housing part of the transmission. there is no fluid in there to begin with.

And i'm pretty sure that's not a dent, it's just how the housing is shaped.


perhaps the residue is from a leak up above... perhaps the VTEC solenoid (if you have one) or distributor o-ring. You know how when liquid runs down a surface it will stick to the surface even if it is hanging but will drip. Hence the residue left.

fdiddy

Wow that makes me really happy. I think that the oil residue on it is from my oil pan leaking. There was a sale on synthetic oil so I bought some, and my oil pan is leaking a lot. Guess I should stick to conventional. Thanks for the quick reply, much appreciated. I don't have VTEC, can I see the distributor o-ring from above? How can I tell if it's leaking.

trustdestruction

If the o-ring is leaking, you will see oil leaking from underneath the distributor.

The synthetic isn't likely the cause of your oil leak. Synthetic used to have leaking problems over conventional oil back when it was first invented, but that problem has since been fixed. I recommend replacing the oil pan gasket. Stick with the synthetic, it's good stuff.