Transmission Fluid Leak

Gager122

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Good Afternoon, everyone, I hope everyone is doing well today. I have somewhat of a complicated story and I am in need of some advice. Three weeks ago I bought a 2017 Honda Civic EX-T with 42k miles on it. The next day I brought the Civic to my friend's house to put it on the lift and check the car out. We found pretty much nothing wrong with the car rather than an excessive amount of fluid on the shield that you pop off to access the oil filter and such. I bought the Civic from CarMax and they told me to take the Civic to Charlies Honda in Augusta Maine. So I did and Charlies thought that maybe it was an oil leak and then put a UV Dye in the oil and told me to come back in 1000 Miles. I told CarMax about this and they refunded me the 70$ it was to put the dye in the oil and recommended I go to VIP after the 1000 miles were up because CarMax and VIP work hand in hand and there wouldn't be any hassle about money. So today I went to VIP and had the car checked out, I was there about 2 hours and they found that the leak was not seeming to be oil but rather transmission fluid. There were no signs of the oil with the dye but just fluid that looked slightly like new engine oil, which they explained could possibly be because it is a CVT Transmission. I also told them about a slight clicking noise that was coming from the driver's side tire at low speeds and sharp turns, which VIP said could possibly be a CV Axel which is also worrying but not as much as the fluid leak. So after I found this all out VIP said that this project was out of there league and the whole transmission would have to be dropped and its just not their type of work. So after this, I called CarMax and told them the situation and they told me to find a better Dealership then Charlies or to just bring the car back to Charlies, which I ended up making an appointment for Thursday morning for another diagnosis. This would make the third time having the car checked out to possibly find an answer. I'm just looking for some advice on what the issue could be and if anyone else has had this problem, so far CarMax has covered all costs involved with this and doesn't seem to be fighting on getting the work done. Some general questions I have are what the average cost of at CV Axel is going to cost for the car and if the leak is going to possibly be something that is fixed or a whole transmission replacement. I do some work on cars myself, mostly wheel bearings, struts, and rust work, but transmission work is out of my league. I just want some extra knowledge before I walk into Charlies so I can further explain myself and have an idea of what I am looking at. I'm going to attach some photos I found on another thread to show exactly where I am able to see clear signs of fluid (The Redline is where the fluid seems to be coming from). Any help, thoughts, suggestions, or experience would be greatly appreciated and I hope everyone has a great day!

Honda Civic 10th gen Transmission Fluid Leak Screen Shot 2020-07-14 at 1.11.11 PM
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calonzo

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Well, I can't help you with the transmission, but I have had CV joints replaced on my previous Civic. A new CV joint alone might be as much as $600 from Honda. You can get aftermarket parts for much less, but since you just bought the car, I wouldn't do that. I wound up buying a used Honda CV joint from an internet junk yard for about $100 and it worked perfectly. Installation is around $200.
 
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Gager122

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Well, I can't help you with the transmission, but I have had CV joints replaced on my previous Civic. A new CV joint alone might be as much as $600 from Honda. You can get aftermarket parts for much less, but since you just bought the car, I wouldn't do that. I wound up buying a used Honda CV joint from an internet junk yard for about $100 and it worked perfectly. Installation is around $200.
Thank you, and yeah since it's under warranty I'm just gonna ask for an OEM one, you typically don't expect to buy a car and it has something like that go wrong with it, I'm not even worried about that I'm more worried about the transmission fluid. I just feel as I shouldn't be having these issues 3 weeks into the car.
 
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I haven’t looked on the underside of a cvt transmission before, but It’s unlikely that the cv axel is the cause of the leak. My bet would be on axle seals.

Also the noise you are hearing can very well be chatter coming from inside the transmission due to low fluid. Check the fluid level ASAP.
 
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Gager122

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I haven’t looked at the underside of a CVT transmission before, but It’s unlikely that the cv axel is the cause of the leak. My bet would be on axle seals.

Also, the noise you are hearing can very well be chatter coming from inside the transmission due to low fluid. Check the fluid level ASAP.
Fluid Level is good had it checked out when it was diagnosed, bringing it to the honda dealership tomorrow to get it checked again by someone more qualified than someone from VIP. Thanks for the input, I'm wondering what their game plan is gonna be once they confirm its the transmission leaking.
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