Bought an '06 2.4ii, front wheel drive about 3 months ago. Daughter was driving to school, and a car drifted into her lane. She swerved left, and hit the curb doing about 45 mph. Shreaded the driver's side front tire, and hit the rear tire hard enough to cause a bubble. My wife had 2 new tires put on, but now the steering wheel is about 1/4 turn to the left when driving down the road. Unfortunately, I was out of town, so came home to all this. I looked under the car this evening, but not enough time to pull off the bottom plastic cover to see everything. But, from what I could tell, I did not see anything bent or loose. I'm hoping it simply is out of alignment. But, I did notice what looks to be fairly fresh oil on the boot against the gearbox (I guess that's what it is). I've also attached a photo. I assume this would be transmission fluid, but it looks a bit thick for that. I haven't checked the fluid level yet, but plan to do that tomorrow. There's no oil on the ground under the car. Is there a good chance that the seal is blown, or could the force of the hit caused a momentary leak. Any idea on how hard that is to fix if it is? I've never worked on a transmission on a front-wheel drive, so this is a new issue for me to deal with, and any advice is appreciated. Thanks!

 

That isn't trans fluid, that is the grease from the inner axle joint. Probably have a torn boot.

 

Agreed, torn boot on the cv axle joint. I have replaced boots a couple of times on different cars. Some are easy, some are easier to replace the whole axle. No hurry to fix this one though. It will sling grease all over but it won't hurt anything in the short run.

The steering wheel 1/4 turn off worries me more. Maybe a bent tie rod end. Does the car track straight or does it "dog track" where the front wheels and rear wheels are not lined up?

 

I haven't driven it yet. I was out of town on a business trip, and only had a few minutes to crawl under it last night to take a look. I plan to take it for a short drive tonight in the neighborhood to see what it's doing, and will send a reply back then. Thanks to you both for your help!

 

First and foremost, get an alignment done. They usually check everything when the car is up and will tell you what is/not damaged, if so, what needed to be repair or replaced.