Second issue with the transmission:
The mess you see is because of an inner cv boot cracking and spilling some grease. that has since been fixed but the tranny was not cleaned to a squeaky clean level.
Ignoring that, I did however spot a couple of drops of oil on the lowest part of the tranny under the open hole in the cover plate. I believe it's dripping down to that part and I've noticed some seeping down to the drain plug hole as well. I'm pretty sure the drain plug is good because I recently replaced it while doing a flush and I checked it a couple more times (guessing I see a drop there because it's the lowest part of the tranny). The leak is minimal, I checked the level after a few months and it was the same but I'd like to figure it out.
When I sort this linkage issue out I plan on cleaning the tranny really good and look for leaks on a clean slate right now I just can't figure where it's coming from.
My question for now is: are there any common places for these trannies to leak? Could it be leaking around the shift linkage? Any places for me to check while I'll be there?
It's a 2000 5 spd manual.