This past weekend I looked at an 03 X type, which I'm very interested in. The X was clean and the mileage was fairly low (66k), but the trans seal was leaking pretty bad. I've done my share of wrenching over the past 20 years, but I've never encountered a leaking trans seal. Is this a common problem on X types? Shoud I be looking for anything else? How well do these repairs hold up? I know the seal itself isn't expensive, but I'm sure the labor to drop the tranny and replace it is. It's at a well regarded Acura dealer and he stated that he was going to send it to the trans shop that they use and call me on Monday. Your thoughts?

 

This problem does not seem to be a widespread problem among these cars. With that being said, I would be extremely hesitant about the labor involved with this task. There is a seal between the transfer case and the tranny which can get damaged when the transmission is removed by someone who is not completely familiar with these cars. This can lead to atf fluid going into the xcase and high weight gear oil going into the auto transmission. Just make sure they know what they are doing if they are going to remove the transfer case from the tranny to do the repair.
Other than that, happy hunting. Also, if you are looking for reliability go with an 04 or higher, but if you want true awd go with an 02-03 because of the viscous coupling in the transfer case.