2014 Acura TSX, roughly 110k miles, 4 cylinder engine, automatic transmission.
Got the car as a used car. Noticed that it was leaking from the bottom hose attached to the external in-line transmission filter, on the filter side. See black arrow for the area I’m indicating, and yellow for the filter.
It looked like it had been leaking for some time. Not bad enough for puddles on the floor, or enough for it register on the dipstick. It is likely seepage. The maintenance minder light came for transmission service. I figured the original clamps were “tired”, I drained and refilled it, replaced this filter, and added additional clamps. To attempt to fix this leak. In this order, for the hoses attached to the filter, on the filter end.
16 mm Spring Band Clamp | Original hose clamp | 16 mm Spring Band Clamp → Filter → 16 mm Spring Band Clamp | Original hose clamp | 16 mm Spring Band Clamp
I was not able to get any additional hose clamps on, because the length of the metal spigot on the filter was not long enough. A 15 mm Spring Band Clamp, I wasn’t able to compress it enough to make it wide enough to go over the hose. I’m pretty confident that 16 mm is the correct size. Unless of course, a imperial sized clamp is supposed to be on there, which I doubt for an Acura.
Well today I got back under the car, and it appears to still be leaking from the same spot.
Maybe it’s possible that when I reassembled it my hands were oily, but based on where the oil is located, it looks like a leak to me.
What is a guy supposed to do? Brand new filter and brand new multiple hose clamps. I supposed I could try a 5/8 inch spring band hose clamp. The only issue is that I can’t find a set of imperial spring band hose clamps, whose measurement is in inches and not mm that is a part of a set with various sizes. I suppose I could always try buying a bunch of 5/8 inch spring band hose clamps instead of a set. Perhaps a hose clamp between 15 mm and 16 mm would provide enough clamping force. I converted some nearby inch values to mm.
9/16 inch = 14.2875 mm - To small
15 mm - To small
19/32 inch = 15.0812 mm - ?
20/32 inch = 10/16 inch = 5/8 inch = 15.875 mm - ?
16 mm - Leaks
21/32 inch = 16.6687 mm - To Big
11/16 inch = 17.4625 - To Big
6/8 inch = 3/4 inch = 19.05 mm - To big
Besides, I feel like I’m splitting hairs at this point using 15.875 mm spring band clamp over a 16 mm spring band hose clamp. The difference of .125 mm. Not to mention would have to drain and refill the transmission again to.
Thanks for any recommendations. i don’t think replacing the hose would help at all, as the hose doesn’t look damaged or elongated, resulting in the diameter being larger than it’s supposed to. This seems like a design flaw to me, but this doesn’t seem to be a common issue on this car I guess.
The previous owner went to the dealership for the past 90k miles and they never mentioned anything. Previous owner is a family member. Some Honda Acura techs online have told me the filter is not meant to be serviceable. But it’s leaking for me.
