Corrosion in Transmission Fluid Fill Pipe? 08CRV

[Mike]

Hey All,

My wife has a 2008 Honda CRV and is the original owner. I went to check the transmission fluid level yesterday and noticed a few things. The rubber ‘stopper’ had some white corrosion looking dust/particulate (similar to what you’d find on a battery) all around it. When I went to put the dipstick back in, it gave me issues like it wasn’t sliding in properly. Further inspection with a flashlight revealed some corrosion/build up all along the dipstick pipe (see pics).

Other things to note: The corrosion wiped off the rubber stopper easily. Some of the corrosion in the dipstick pipe did appear to knock loose into a fine white dust/powder as I tried to get the dipstick back in place. The dipstick pipe is also the fill pipe for the transmission on this vehicle. This car has not had any transmission work done (I was actually checking the level of the transmission fluid before planning to do a drain and fill this weekend).

So the basic question is, is this normal? It looks like half of my pipe is ‘clogged’ and I don’t want to go making it worse or possibly pouring new fluid down the pipe and having it all ‘melt’ away and go down in my transmission. I realize that once it becomes liquid the corrosion may not hurt my transmission but this doesn’t seem normal to me so I figured I’d pop in and ask!

Thanks for any help!

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[Lorrin Barth]

I’ve never seen that before. I wonder if it could be antifreeze.

[Mike]

I know it won’t help much but here is 1 more pic (can see it a little better). The compression for uploading to the web is killing the details – let me know if you would like a full res (1.5mb pic) and I’ll PM it to you. To my knowledge no one has ever done anything with the transmission fluid in this vehicle and even my wife knows that antifreeze goes in the radiator only.

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[Ryan]

I’ve seen white oxidation in trans fill tubes quite a bit, usually in ones that never get checked by removal of the stick. With the oring there that creates a positive seal, any vapor or condensation thatforms at the top of the tube inside boils away when the components get hot leaving behind deposits. If it’s that concerning, remove the fill pipe and clean it out. My practice is to keep dipstick o-rings lubed with whatever fluid they’re for. I wouldn’t be too concerned about it otherwise.

You should see some of the motorhome dipsticks. You pull it out and the end is covered in rust crumbles that get pushed into the pan with the dipstick reinserted. I usually sell them a cleaning by way of tube removal and a drain pipe cleaning brush from harbor freight then lubing.

It wasn’t born there so usually there’s a way to remove it.

[Mike]

Thanks for the tip Avender. I have never run into this and didn’t even know removing the fill tube is an option (figured it was welded or part of the original structure). Are you saying that while it looks bad, it’s not doing any damage to my transmission by having it there? As long as it’s not hurting anything, I won’t spend the extra time to clean it out just so it looks pretty.

[Ryan]

No there’s no harm in it being there. Drain and fill the trans to your hearts content.

[Lorrin Barth]

[quote=”Mike2914″ post=94931]I know it won’t help much but here is 1 more pic (can see it a little better). The compression for uploading to the web is killing the details – let me know if you would like a full res (1.5mb pic) and I’ll PM it to you. To my knowledge no one has ever done anything with the transmission fluid in this vehicle and even my wife knows that antifreeze goes in the radiator only.[/quote]

Automatics have a heat exchanger in the engine radiator that transmission fluid flows through. That’s why I wondered about antifreeze. But if Avender states this is common, that is good enough for me.

[Author]

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