Brought my 98 civic in to my mechanic to get my engine leak checked out. Its been dripping small amounts of oil on the ground for a while now. Got 180k miles on the car, and he told me that the rear seal usually go out after 150k. Quoted me $400, I think that sounds about right.

He was pressed for time, and I knew he was busy, so he quickly jacked up my car and checked underneath for a couple minutes and said he was sure that the rear main seal was leaking. I was wondering if one can tell right away if this is the immediate problem, or could it possibly be leaking from somewhere else?

 

Rear main seals are prone to leaking, especially on higher mileage. Just changed the one on my 99 Civic, but it made it to 270K miles. Could also be the oil pan gasket, if your doing one, may as well do the other as well as the transmission input shaft seal, they are all relatively inexpensive parts, but a PITA to get to.

 

I would check and/or replace all the cheaper easier to get to seals before changing a main seal with only only 180k on it (unless you have been running totally contaminated oil I can't see it failing so soon).
It could be a distributor o-ring, v-tech solenoid gasket, valve cover gasket or pan gasket, all of which are relatively easy/cheap to replace and would drip down and look like a main seal. Imagine if this mechanic changed a simple distributor o-ring (10 minute job) and charged you for a rear main seal ($$$$$).
You usually can't look under the car for 1 minute and diagnose a rear main seal. At the very least you should get a 2nd (and 3rd) opinion. You might even consider feeding it's habit. You can buy a lot of quarts of oil for the cost of a rear main seal replacement.

 

When i first got under my 98 Civic Ex and sarted looking around surgically with a HID shop light my eyes shot right at that spot where the engine and transaxle meet and froze in terror at seeing little dribbles of oil.

No worries though! LITERALLY all the prior mentioned gaskets were bad.
The VTEC solenoid gasket
Dizzy O-ring
Valve cover gasket
oil pan gasket

these combined leaked about a quart of oil a week, witch is way more then Im ok with. (im ok with none)
after replacing the gaskets it leaks nothing.

I question a mechanic who can so easily diagnose a main seal issue without driving it.
Leaks are not specific enough, driving it is best,espeically a manual trans as a leaking main seal will leak fluid onto the clutch and slip considerably.

 

400 dollars




LOLOLOLOL

someone is ripping you a new one man!!!! 400 bucks to pull a lil d series trans and change a rear main??!!! whatever man... i would do that job for 150 for a friend and 200 for a walk in customer

400 bucks is a complete rip off...atleast in my area it is and i am in GA

 

actually the rear main seal leaking usually doesn't get on the clutch disc/pressure plate.

When a rear main leaks it runs straight down and drips out of its weep hole.. i rarely see a clutch that has oil on it from a leaky rear main.. Not saying it can't happen i am just going from what i have seen on the hondas we have worked on (cant even tell you how many)

 

Can we be freinds if my rear main ever goes out? I will drive to you for that price, F*** ill help even.

 

Im in NC, wanna drive here & do mine for 200? Plz. Lol