I just barely replaced my axle seals today on both side. I bought oem honda brand seals and gently tapped them into the transmission. But its still leaking on the passenger side.. WTF??

 

Now I find out that its also leaking on the driver side. Stupid seal! I also read the honda manual and it doesn't tell you how far you should push it in or anything. It just says use a "special tool"... grrr so mad after all that hard work removing the axle, draining the fluid

 

The seals should be flush with the outer surface of the differential. You also need to grease the inner lip of the seals and where the seal contacts the axle.

 

^^ thanks again RonJ for the info.. I think I might have pressed it in too deep then. There should be a little gap between the seal and the bearing right? Also I noticed that the seal had a little grease on the inside already from Honda. Should I remove it as carefully as I can without tearing it and putting it back in?

Also I checked the headshield on the stock exhaust piping. Its not loose. my guess is that its running without a cat. Nothing is rubbing or hitting anything either

Btw I went to check on the car and realize that there is a puddle of fluid worst than before.. Im about to go drain it right now and work on it tomorrow

 

You need to remove the seals without damaging them. You may want to pick up 2 new seals just in case. Install the seals so that they are just flush with the outside of the differential. Before installing the axles, lightly grease the inner lip of the seals and the part of the axles that contacts the seal.

 

K thanks.. I will do that tomorrow with the advice you gave me. I'm such an idiot. I had it right the first time when I put it on. I had it flush with the tranny but I decided to push it in a bit more and all of hell broke loose :/

 

You aren't an idiot, it's difficult to line them up perfectly, and perfectly flat so that the greased lip contacts the shaft uniformly around the whole thing (if you aren't doing it all the time or have to improvise tools). I have to go back and re-do mine, I did mine on a rack in a bit of a hurry. They don't leak much but I want them to leak nothing. = ) Sometimes it's helpful to find a socket the diameter of about the middle of the seal and use that to tap it in lightly if you don't have a seal driving set.

As you can see from the lower left diagram, the body of the seal should be flush with the housing, leaving the little angled lip out further.

 

^^ k I will try this again today but this time I will pour in the transmission fluid while the car is still jacked up with the axles on to see if I see leakage. Hopefully I get it right this time. I will also take pictures to show

 

Here are pics of the installation. Is it in correct?

 

Okay update...

I went to autozone and bought Timken Seals and THEY WORK! I did this because I didn't want to spend an arm and a leg just in case I messed up again. This time I really greased up the seals good and pressed it in BY HAND! I didn't use any tools or anything, just my finger tips and patience... Got the sucker in as straight as possible and slowly worked around it until it was flushed with the tranny. I put on the axles and poured in the Honda MTF. Then I went under wiped everything down, spun the wheels and checked for leaks. Nothing! I am now 100% happier

 

Nice job with the fix.

 

All thanks to you and others for the advice! Here are some more pictures with the axles attached after I started the car and spun the wheels for a bit to see if it leaked. No drop watsoever!

These pictures are from under but I had to position my cellphone so it looks like its sideways..









Btw: I replaced both outer seals. The driver and passenger side and packed it with grease!

 

Great write up. I do have one question. The pictures look like 96+ trans. Does all the same steps apply for a 92-95 transaxle? Specifically how deep the seal should be. I have a 96 car with a 95 trans the seal can be placed rather deep it looks like. I just would like to know if I keep the seal flush with trans in the 95 trans. Seals are a lil different than a 96.

Same problem here I am headed to do it a 3rd time. Last install I did place it flush with trans I greased the seal inner lip but failed to grease the outer lip and did not grease the cv shaft either and it has failed within 50 miles. I know now to grease her up like mad from the pics but I want to be clear on the placement of the seal.
Thanks in advance I really need some help. Been 103 deg outside and no shade lol and I really wanna get er done this time. Right haha

 

Anyone? Sorry just need a lil help.

 

You need to make your own thread for your own problem from now on. Reviving a thread that is two years old is highly frowned upon.

Having said that, read the thread above. The outside edge of the seal should be FLUSH with the edge of where the seal sits inside the transmission. 92-95 or 96-00, the seals and transmissions housings should essentially be the same. Use a socket that is the same size on the outside as the size of the seal and GENTLY tap it in with a hammer. Make sure that it is flush all the way around the edge. It doesn't need a load of grease on it like the guy did above. Just make sure its wet and make sure your axles are in all the way. I seat them as far as I can and then tap the outer tip of the shaft with a mallot to fully seat them inside the transmission. The CV joint should be flush with the differential housing.

 

The install on a 95 trans is the same as the one in the thread as far as depth of the seal. I have a 94 trans and I installed the seals just like in this thread and haven't had a leak yet (knock on wood) with 500+ miles on it

 

Ok great thanks so much. I didnt want to do it again and not know for sure. I think it will work this time. First seals I got were from napa and this one os a tempkin frok autozone and it is shaped a lil different. I will post the results. Cheers

 

Talking about the seal flushing with the outer surface of the tranny, it's a little bit tricky, and I learned it in a hard way.
I have a 2004 Honda Civc, Automatic Transmission, there are actually 2 surfaces in my tranny, outer surface and a tiny rim of inner surface, I thought about it for a long time, and googled everything and couldn't find anything similar, eventually I decided to flush the seal with the outer surface.
Turned out to be a mistake, it still leaks.
I have to redo the whole job, this time, I flushed the seal with the tiny rim of the inner surface, I used a 6mm socket to help me with that.
Since I cannot find any picture of it from internet and service book, I drew a picture myself for anyone that interested. I drew 2 views, the upper one is cross view, the lower one is vertical view.
From the picture, you can see the 6mm socket can sit across both the tiny rim of inner surface and the seal. I used a long socket extension and a hammer to make the flushing. Remember to do it multiple times on different place of the whole seal.
You don't have to spend $$$ for that expensive Honda special installation tool!
After the 2nd install, there is no leak
anymore.

 

Are the seals different for each side? Or should I just buy a pair of the same seals? Civic d15b7 trans S40
Thanks

 

They are different, they are affected by which way the shaft rotates. If you look closely there is a little arrow molded into the rubber part which should be the way the shaft rotates when the car is rolling forward.

 

Seals are diff on each side by size as well, most of the time the issue is with installation errors. Make note of how flush or close to flush the old seal is before replacing. OEM seals str8 from honda already come with grease, others might not.

 

Thanks for this! Cause I'm still fixing my 1995 lx civic here in brazil.

 

I think you mean, BRAASSSIIIIIIIIL!!

 

I have a 2008 Civic LX automatic transmission. I replaced the axles and seals and my drivers side seal is leaking. I removed it and put it back in and it's still leaking. Maybe I need to grease the seal? What type of grease do you use?