Rear Main Seals
 

Ok guys, my 2001 Accord goes in the shop on thursday to get the rear main seal replace due to its been leaking oil. I'm hoping that this was the root cause to the smoke that I see when I accelerate from a stop. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Smoke from tailpipe? That's not from the rear main seal.

Oil leaking from the rear main seal would drip on the ground, maybe not even onto the exhaust pipe.

that's interesting because there is not one single drop of oil of the floor of my garage.

So... from your first post, WHERE is it leaking oil?

Well according to the "so called professionals--Honda dealership", smoke coming from the exhaust can very much so be from the rear main seal. I'm not sure where the oil is going. I tend to trust the dealership since they suppose to know what they are talking about. There is absolutly no oil dripping on to the floor of my garage.

The rear main seal is nowhere near getting into the combustion chamber and burning oil that would exit the tail pipe. It's possible that it's leaking through the seam between the block and transmission housing, then dripping down onto the exhaust pipe and burning there.

Well, that's basically what I was asking about. If it drips down under the bellhousing, that doesn't really line up with the exhaust pipe. Hard to imagine how it would get on the exhaust pipe without also getting on the garage floor.

And... that smoke "from the exhaust" would be from oil burning on the outside of the exhaust pipe, directly underneath the engine. That would make smoke up front, not coming out from the tailpipe.

That's what I wis thinking too, but I haven't seen the car so I wasn't going to rule it out completely.

Pretty tough for me to believe a leaky rear main wouldn't cause a drip to the floor.
How did they diagnose it?
Sounds to me like they are getting the privilege of charging you out the wazoo for labor on a seal that is probably fine. I wouldn't trust that shop at all.

Is the bottom of the engine/tranny wet with oil?

It occurred to me that it might be leaking real slow. The only time it actually drips is while you're driving, so that's why you don't get oil on the garage floor.