2018 Odyssey oil leak or assembly lube/grease seepage?

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Hello, I have a ‘18 Odyssey with 21,200 miles, muzzled and does not use/burn any oil. I used TGMO 0w20 since I dumped the FF at 6,000 miles.

The oil was changed at 6,000 miles and 14,000 miles respectively. However, during oil change at 14,000 miles, I noticed some gunk that looks like grease residue that its not runny, but tacky(no drips on the floor and no puddle on the belly housing). Thought it was just road grime, I cleaned it thoroughly with brake cleaner and waited 3,000miles to inspect the same area, but found nothing.

Fast forward, the car now has 21,200 miles and I inspected the area again. Lo and behold, I found a slight trace of seepage but it's not as bad since discovery.

Could it be a slow oil leak or an assembly lube getting melted with the engine's heat cycles? (Still, no drips, no puddles and its tacky).

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Originally Posted by CT8
2018 with 21,000 miles, warranty. Bring it to the dealer.


What's the claim? Unexplained dirtyness on the underside of the vehicle, with no oil loss or consumption?
 
Originally Posted by CT8
2018 with 21,000 miles, warranty. Bring it to the dealer.



It is very unlikely a dealer would do anything good here. Opening it up with a "fix" would do more harm than good. Don't let them touch it, Monitor it and if it doesn't get worse, live with it. Nice to be a clean freak but this is not a concern.

As said - how could they justify a warrant\y claim with Honda?
 
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Quote
It is very unlikely a dealer would do anything good here. Opening it up with a "fix" would do more harm than good. Don't let them touch it, Monitor it and if it doesn't get worse, live with it. Nice to be a clean freak but this is not a concern.

As said - how could they justify a warrant\y claim with Honda?



Thanks for the input! Yes, I'm kinda leaning towards monitoring it since I didn't see any compelling evidence that would suggest to an oil leak for now.
But as of the moment, I'm just having reservations on what's really the cause of this. Well, time will tell.
 
Originally Posted by Ambo87

But as of the moment, I'm just having reservations on what's really the cause of this. Well, time will tell.


If your odyssey is anything like ours, the oil fill cap is below the top of the radiator shroud, and difficult to pour into. It doesn't take a lot of dripped oil to make that mess. It would migrate with heat and then pick up dirt from the road. The oil fill is near where the engine and transmission mate.

There could be any number of other seepage points that are so minor they don't affect consumption rates.
 
Its not getting any worse, as JHZR2 said it was possibly spillage. I would just keep an eye on it when you change the oil and wouldn't loose any sleep over it.
 
Originally Posted by JHZR2
Originally Posted by Ambo87

But as of the moment, I'm just having reservations on what's really the cause of this. Well, time will tell.


If your odyssey is anything like ours, the oil fill cap is below the top of the radiator shroud, and difficult to pour into. It doesn't take a lot of dripped oil to make that mess. It would migrate with heat and then pick up dirt from the road. The oil fill is near where the engine and transmission mate.

There could be any number of other seepage points that are so minor they don't affect consumption rates.



Considering its a 3.5 V6, our engines are similar. All these J35's generally have the same architecture with some tweaks here and there. But surely the oil filler cap is in the same spot.
True, and in my case it's an awkward process in filling the oil that a long funnel is needed. Too easy to spill if you don't do it correctly. Why Honda can't just extend the filler neck to an extra inch or two? surely there's some space to spare.

Anyway, I just found another owner at Piloteers.org with a 2016 Pilot(same engine) that's having the same spot of road grime.
 
I wouldn't sweat it. A single drop of oil can spread out like crazy. Just about all 6 of the Honda's I've owned have shown something close to what you've pictured. Never had any problems. Not every engine is going to be pristine like the first day you bought it. About the only thing the dealer is going to do is recheck the torqued on that bolt. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
 
A much older Odyssey, but our 2008 LX model always had a slight film in that exact area which I assumed was from the rear main seal. Had it from new and I would wipe the area clean during every engine oil change. Same deal in that it never dripped on the ground that I noticed and never appeared to loose oil between oil changes. I was the only one to do regular maintenance on that van in the ~75K miles we owned it.
 
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If you are really worried, clean the area as best as you can. Then add oil dye from one of those UV kits. You will see where the leak is coming from fairly quickly if it actually is leaking anymore.
 
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