Hoping this is not the dreaded rear main seal leak...

I had seen some oil around that area when looking at car (probably should have run but couldn't with my broken ankle...)
No oil ever made it to the ground. Oil level stayed at high level. Drove it through very hot weather for 5000 miles and some 600 mile summer days. Everything was ok.

Then I started smelling burning oil last week. I then verified oil leaking onto the cat and burning there.
It's gotten worse. At first it was simply when it was idling and hot in traffic after awhile. Now burning smell happens within 5 minutes. I'm down at least 2-3 quarts (re-filled it now). Last 3 nights leak spots are on the driveway.

There is a filter looking thing over the transmission and beneath the transmission warmer. That tube is soaked in oil. It looks suspicious. Is there ANY way there is motor oil in the line ?? (pretty please say yes).
I am worrying it only holds transmission fluid and I'm 99% sure it's motor oil and not T fluid.
The oil and filter are and front main seal are dry and not leaking. Nor are the upper VTEC valve and solenoids leaking.
I thought at first the oil was leaking between the trans and engine. Hence my rear main seal worry. But I'm not 100% sure now it's coming exactly from that spot.

 

 

The red tint tells me transmission fluid. Have you checked the level?
You need to clean all that off, then run the car and check for the source. My guess is a split hose somewhere.

 

Hmm. Well, thanks for the response!
Gosh, I'd be really surprised if it is AT fluid. But you could be right.
The AT fluid was nice and clear red about 5,000 miles ago when I bought the car (at 125K mileage). When I checked it two days ago it didn't look so clean and fresh. Darker. I checked it warm / hot with the motor off. Level looked ok on the 'warm' mark area ( I think).There's probably a more correct way to check it cold - I sort of forget.


It DOES smell like burning motor oil. I guess I have not smelled burning AT fluid. Does it smell pretty much the same?
I did seem to be down motor oil. I put in half a gallon of 0w20 last night and the dipstick went up to the half mark.
It's smoking again today / tonight on commute.

What does that tube go to / from? Is that the external AT fluid filter that's magnetic that I read about online?

 

Can a rear main seal suddenly get really bad and leak this much all of a sudden?
I have no maintenance history on this car.
At 130,000 miles - should I suspect the PCV valve could be clogged shut, causing excessive pressure on the system and shoving out oil (through R.M.S.)?

 

Looks like a transmission fluid, but if it doesn't stop take it to the nearby Honda service center.

 

To the OP, can we assume this is on the '11 Accord 4 cyl?

Either way, to me it does not seem to be a rear main seal issue. What I would do is clean up the "mess" as best as you can - several methods to do this.

Once clean and dry - some might use a "baby powder" substance to help - crank up the engine and inspect the area of the "mess" - a white paper towel will help identify the color a bit better (red vs black). I'm trying to remember the layout, but pretty sure the oil filter is in that general area - so the filter of the gaskets/o-ring(s) sealing the filter or the filter housing to the engine block might be suspect.

 

Problem I believe is solved. I am pretty thrilled. Was about 100% it was the rear main seal.
An excellent suggestion was made on another forum:
REMOVE the transmission INSPECTION COVER.
Everything changed when I did this.
What did I find? It was bone dry. Like never a drop of oil in there. Which meant the rear main seal was not leaking at all.
So... I started looking everywhere else (again).
Hmmm... the oil filter always has a drop ready to drop down at the end of the vertically mounted filter...
I assumed this was 'collateral damage' spray so to speak from the rear main seal. It wasn't.
In fact, it now appears after I bought this car and drove it 5000 miles with no leak it somehow developed a leak in the oil filter shell itself.
Or to put this another way... after now suspecting the filter area I simply changed the oil and filter and also put in a gallon of high mileage Penzoil 0W20 oil, and it's now not leaking.
The cat burnt off all the oil on it and it's heat shield and the muffler burnt it's oil coating off, and those areas were sludged up constantly for the past 2-3 weeks and they are now dry.
I am toweling off the other parts.

I am thrilled!!!

I do have a small ATF leak - which is one of the big reasons I got confused in the first place. The ATF leak is happening at the tube connection below the external magnetic transmission filter. So I have to work on that next. It's not a very aggressive leak, but still making things messy underneath.
I plan to due a ATF fluid change next and then install a new hose there and new OEM clamps.
And yes Poorman, this is a 2011 Accord Coupe LX-S AT i4 I've got now. Thanks for your suggestions!

 

Here's a pic of the flywheel with the transmission inspection cover removed. The guys told me to wear goggles and buckle up, oil should be pouring out of it (if one has a rear main seal leak).
In fact, there is a very small drain hole there that I could see was dry before I even took the cover off (my hopes were starting to go up!)

The second pic shows a little better where that cover is for anyone wanting to know. It's driver side rear of engine area and horizontally installed on the transmission and black metal with two 10mm bolts holding the cover in. There are two there that looks a little similar. The harder one to see is the one you'd want to remove.

It's an absolute snap to remove this cover with just the two bolts. There is no fluid in there, unless you've got a blown rear main seal!