hello,newbie with a question

[dlbleak]

hello all, not new to hondas, just pilots. we've had two accords and they are awesome, carfree cars. i think i did a master cylinder and a fuel pump on our 92. we drove it for 12 years. our current 96 accord is going to our daughter in november. it has needed virtually nothing except regular maintenance.

ok,we have a son going to college in january and needed to get my wife an inexpensive car. we picked out a 2004 pilot. only had it for 24 hours and it started leaking oil from the black plate between the motor and transmission. at least i think thats the location. what is this plate and is a common leak point? the plate is bent in a 90 degree angle and black.

the car is going in for a timing belt next week. is the leak something that i should have the mechanic look at or something i can do. i'm fairly mechanical and rarely put a car in the shop.

thanks for any input,Darren

[theirishscion]

Sorry to be the bearer of bad tidings, but I'm afraid that's a rear main seal leak. It's a fairly big job to fix, in terms of labor. I believe the transmission and engine have to be dropped so the two can be split apart, affording access to the rear main seal (the crankshaft seal at the back of the engine, between the engine and transmission)

With any luck you'll get change for $1000, but potentially not a whole lot. Repair Pal suggests a price of $658 to $878 for my zip code.

If the leak is slow enough, it might I suppose be easiest to ignore it and make sure the oil is kept topped up, though if you've noticed it already, chances are it's pretty quick.

Sadly, I wouldn't be surprised if this was the problem that led the previous owner to part with the vehicle. Any chance you can have whoever you bought it from take care of it?

[dlbleak]

i was afraid thats what it was darnit! you can bet i'll give them a call to see if they are going to help out or return some of my money.
the car sat in the same place for a few days with no oil spot and the motor was clean underneath. we got back from the grocery store and i noticed a decent sized puddle so its something that has to be fixed.

[dlbleak]

i found some info on another forum that the pilots had a recall for the rear main seal. anyone ever hear about it?

[theirishscion]

Linkage?

[dlbleak]

just checked it again,seems to be only around the plate. i would say that the linkage is good

[theirishscion]

Sorry, I meant do you have a link to the page talking about a recall on the rear main?

[dlbleak]

http://www.google.com/url?q=http://w...Y9bT39vv7_sE_w

i've got two estimates for the seal so far. one for 750 and one for 783. actually a little less than i was expecting.

mine would have to many miles and be to old for honda to even consider