possible transmission leak, where do they commonly leak?

[insightbuyer]

I noticed a very small drip at the very bottom of my transmission, right around where the drain plug is, however it does not look like the drain plug is leaking. It seems to accumulate in front about an inch and in back of the drain plug, kind of on those screws. Possibly just a low point where it may drip down.

Seems like it drips maybe 2 or 3 drops max per night. It builds up on those areas very slowly.

The fluid seems to be brown but it is hard to tell. I also noticed that the coolant in my car is low as there is nothing in the reservoir bottle and it is an inch or so low in the radiator.

Just wondering if there are any common areas where this car leaks and that I should check.

Does anyone know the color of hondas manual transmission fluid?

[Leeper]

They don't commonly leak, actually yours is the first I've heard of. The color of the fluid is usually like new - clear brown even when it's old.

[Aaron Cake]

Check the axle seal as it's kind of above the drain plug. That's a quick and easy replacement.

[insightbuyer]

OK, thanks for all the replies. I finally went under the car to change the manual transmission fluid and take a better look for the leak. To me right away it looked like the fill plug was suspect because it looked like the fluid trail was coming from there. I did check other areas like the axle etc. but did not notice anything.

I went to remove the fill plug and as soon as I put the 17mm socket on it the damn plug started to turn. It was bascially not tightened down at all, totally loose.

I emptied the transmission fluid and a little more than a quart came out. So it looks like I was running the transmssion with about 1.1 quarts, when the fill took about 1.6 quarts. So I was running the car 1/3 low or .5 quarts low.

I wonder how bad this is on the transmission. Oh well, I just bought the car so not sure who did not tighten it down.

Do you think this bolt could have worked itself loose, the torque spec was 33ft lbs.