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Oil still leaking...I can't believe it, please help


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Hi everyone,

 

These last couple of days, I have attempted to fix an oil leak in my 96 Subaru Legecy 2.5. After pulling the timing belt off I removed the oil pump, put a new crank seal, o ring and new ultra grey coating on the housing and reinstalled the timing belt (twice as the first time I did it wrong). Happy to finally install the thing correctly, and be able to drive it, I took off...only to find out that I did not fix the damn oil leak and it is still leaking and creating a lot of smoke when I come to a stop. I was hoping that the first time I drove it, it would just be some residual oil burning off...no such luck.

 

The smoke is coming from oil that is burning mostly on the tail pipe at the "Y" where they meet, as well as the Catilytic converter. When I pulled the timing cover off originally, there did not appear to be any oil collected on the inside of the cover. Most of the oil that has collected under the car seems to be on the back side of the oil pan...All over the tire rods, etc, some, actually a good amount, has even collected on the transmission fluid pan...

 

I am at my wits end after working nearly 20 hours to pull the belt twice and do all the other stuff that I thought would fix the problem, to no avail...I really don't want to take it to the dealer as I have invested to much of my time and money getting the parts and a few of my tools that I will need to do the job...If any of you could please help me with any other Ideas as to what the leak could be coming from, I would greatly appreciate it...thanks

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A leak at the rear is probably the rear crank seal. The problem is you have to remove the trans to get to that one. Are you looking at a clutch replacement in the near future? There is also the separator plate there that can be leaking but the consensus seems to be that it does'nt leak very much, not in the magnitude that your're describing.

Good luck!

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And you're sure it's motor oil and not grease from a torn cv boot?

 

I'm sure it is not grease from the CV boot....I actually originally had it looked at by a mechanic at pepboys who said that the leak was coming from "Behind the oil pump wall"...which, after some help from others on USM, took to mean that the some seal on the oil pump was broken. They couldn't do the work however as the said they "don't get that involved with engine work", which is why I attempted to do it myself b/c the dealship will charge me a fortune...however, it would appear they didn't know what they were talking about...I'm not sure what the leak is

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Oh yeah, I don't know if it is too important, but my car is an automatic....also, I found a picture on the site that shows exactly where the smoke on my car is coming from...if anyone has a guess on this one, please help me....thanks in advance.

post-11064-136027601793_thumb.jpg

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have you checked your head gaskets? i've seen soobs leak from that area just as you're saying through the headgaskets. they can leak without causing any other symptoms (oil leaks without any coolant leaking or oil-coolant mixing). seen it happen before. really hard to tell without seeing where it's coming from. can you clean up the area really good and let the car idle and look for the dripping? otherwise we're just guessing.

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have you checked your head gaskets? i've seen soobs leak from that area just as you're saying through the headgaskets. they can leak without causing any other symptoms (oil leaks without any coolant leaking or oil-coolant mixing). seen it happen before. really hard to tell without seeing where it's coming from. can you clean up the area really good and let the car idle and look for the dripping? otherwise we're just guessing.

 

I could try to clean up the engine....does anyone have any recommendations on engine cleaning product that works well? Also...what is the best way to check for head gasket leaking? Thanks for the help gary.

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When my oil seal O-ring was leaking, I had a good coating under the whole of the engine. The pic you posted showing the smoking area indicates (to me) that the smoke is almost definitely coming from the cat, which probably still has a good coating of oil on it and can take a while to burn off, especially if there is still oil on the oil pan, tranny, etc.

Before you tear anything else apart, make sure you are still leaking oil by cleaning the engine. Then you will also know where the leak is coming from. Any of the engine brite or other brand products will help you get that oil off. You could have pools of oil on splash guards and/or control arms that needs to be cleaned up too.

 

Get yourself a bunch of rags :grin:

 

EDIT: did you really clean off all the old gasket material on both the block and the oil pump? With something good like brake parts cleaner?

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I had exactly the same problem on my 1997 Legacy .The engine was taken out twice and new crank seals fitted.I still get the smell of burning oil when I stop after a run.,but I need to change the front crank seal.

 

To check if you have cured the leak from the front end. wrap a cloth allround the front cambelt housing (the plastic box), taking care to keep it clear of the fan etc.

 

The top covers on the cylinder head also leak-could try making a gasket,rather than relying on sealant

 

Cheers Yewman

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Did you ever check the rear cam seals? on the DOHC, these have been known to leak also.......Just a thought....

 

There aren't any rear cam seals. There are halfmoon inserts where the rear cam seals would be. They certainly would be capable of leaking, but I'd be surprised.

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I thought I had done a fairly good job cleaning the housing of the oil pump...I used brake cleaner and wiped it all down fairly well. I guess I will have to grab some rags, clean the whole underneath, and see if I can't get an exect location of where the leak is coming from...that will probably be better than all this guess work. Thanks for the help everyone...and if anyone else has any input or idea at what I am looking at....please chime in and let me know.

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I would clean the engine, transmission, & underside of the car real good. Then, I would have a fluorescent die added to the engine & transmission fluids. You drive the car for a while & then search for the source of the leak with a black light. My mechanic has the ability to look for leaks this way. This method is even used for the a/c system. I hope this helps. Bert

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When you resealed your oil pump, did you check and tighten the 5 screws on the back of the oil pump? These screws can back out over time and cause pressurized oil to leak from behind the pump and out through the crank seal. Other common leaks that I see regularly are valve cover gaskets, cam seals and the separator plate at the rear of the engine. If it hasn't been changed before, it's most likely a black plastic piece that has since been upgraded to a metal plate. Usually if there's oil at the rear, on the y-pipe, I'd lean towards a separator plate, but sometimes oil can leak up front and the road can blow it rearwards....hope this helps.

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