EdgeCombRL

I recently bought a 2002 Acura RL with 182k on it, the car is in great condition and is a one owner vehicle according to carfax and all the service records the lady left in the car, so far ive only installed new wheels, tires, new rotors, brakes and done a complete tune up. after inspecting the bottom of the vehicle i found that the car has a minor leak coming from around the rear main seal of the car i took the car to the mechanic and he confirmed that it is a rear main seal leak and quoted me 1200 for the job after doing some research i figured i will do the job myself i am not an expert but i am in the mechanic field in the military and consider myself fully capable of doing the job. my question is do you guys recommend replacing anything else while im there? so far i purchased the following items from the dealership itself: rear main seal, rear main seal plate o-ring, torque convertor seal, torque convertor o-ring and some honda bond. if anyone has any tips or pictures of this job i would greatly aprecite it.
thank you for your time.

MyNameIsEarl

Hi Edge, I just got my car worked on at Acura, and I've got the same problem. Luckily it is a minor leak. They wanted over a grand to work on it and it is about 10+ hours of labor. It takes a lift to get under the car to remove stuff that needs to. And from what I understand, it's a very labor intensive project. Although I have a question on the matter, too. Like I said, mine leaks just a little bit, it it possible that the seal could catastrophically fail? Or will it only be gradual? I'd hate to be stuck on I-10 in between LA and Phoenix in the middle of August going back to my university...

By the way, thanks for your service! My grandfather was a mechanic for the Air Force.

3.5RLv-tec?

iTrader: (2)

Not the two of you are experiencing this problem, but a lot of RL has this leaking seal. I had the rear seal leak too and it was at 160k and now my car is like 195k. Nothing is wrong, occasionally you will smell some burning oil and just check the oil level regularly.

EdgeCombRL

i was told by a friend that i could switch to a thicker oil but the problem would still be there and after doing some research on this site ive seen that alot of people have solved their problem by replacing the PCV located by your drivers side coils. i am on duty today and i dont have a chance to get out there and do this but i will defenetely do this tomorrow i will add some dye and clean everything and see if it gets any better but if it all fails i will be replacing this seals on tuesday. if you need this done as well and dont feel confortable doing it i would call a transmition shop i heard they are alot cheaper. i am only doing this because one of my friends used to work at a transmition repair shop and he ofered to help me. i will keep you posted.

OLD_HATCH

Definitely post up what you come up with. While your down there check motor mounts and possibly the starter and altenator.

EdgeCombRL

ok so i had to wait a couple days to receive the parts from the dealer but i wanted to wait so i have all oem o-rings and packing i will be doing this rear main seal job tomorrow morning and i will post an update when im done, i changed the pcv valve and it slowed down the leak meaning there was barely any leaking coming out of it but i think the problem has been going on for a while and maybe the packing just worn to the point where the problem is still there even with a new pcv valve on it so i will get this done tomorrow and update you guys with the results. so far i have only spent about 73 in parts including the 20 dollar hondabond.

av8r

EdgeCombRL..... wondering how your rear main repair came out???

rowekmr

Mines was bad also at 132K and the car smoked at stop lights but turns out my valve cover gaskets were also leaking onto the exhaust piping (not the rear main) so I got both fixed and it was well over a grand.

av8r

EdgembRL... did you ever fix your rear main leak?

518AcuraRL04

Whats up all i have an 04 rl with just over 120k. Rear main seal needs to be done as it is seeping pretty good. Does the engine need to be removed for this?Pretty much everything else has been done on the car i just want to take care of any and all oil leaks. Once into the job anything else that should be done while in there? Thank you in advance.