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96 Legacy - Leaking oil thru seals due to high pressure?


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Guest danhsv

I just acquired a 96 Legacy L with 54K miles and it is leaking oil from several seals according to my mechanic . I was told they cleaned out the PCV valve and it still has excessive pressure building up, so if I get all the seals replaced (for about $1K) it may still break the seals down the road. I was told it may require new rings (they are doing a leak down test tomorrow) as well to correct the pressure problem.

 

My question is does this sound like a familiar failure mode at this mileage? I would rather spend more to get it fixed right to get the trademark mileage that Subarus are known for. With this limited info, any opinions as to what is broken and will fixing it give me the typical 100- 200K miles out of the car? Is it worth fixing or writing it off as a loss?

TIA,

Dan

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Guest intrigueing

How much and where is it leaking?

 

By seals I am guessing you are talking cam and crank seals, possibly the oil pump. These are very common occurances for the 2.2. I would highly doubt ring problems with only 54K. If the car blows several seals, often the oil pump is the problem, loose bolts or flashing blockages in the pump can cause oil pressure on the seals.

 

All in all I doubt you have a big problem, more a maintenance issue. Have the cam, crank, cam retainer o-ring, and oil pump seals replaced (and you may want to have the water pump and timing belt done at the same time to save money in the long run).

 

1000$ seems high priced, what exactly are they doing for that price? Get a second opinion. I've never tried it, but many swear by auto-rx for cleaning out your engine and fixing seals. www.auto-rx.com/

 

many on bobistheoilguy swear by the stuff www.bobistheoilguy.com/

 

www.endwrench.com/pdf/eng...nfoW99.pdf

 

Let us know what happens:D

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Guest Drquasievil

I had seals leaking on my 95 Legacy at 38K. When the car reached 71K, it was time to replace the timing belt and I had a Subaru dealer replace the belt, water pump, fix seals, flush radiator, flush AT fluid and replace oil, oil change and filter, and replace both radiator hoses for 650.00.

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Guest Setright

What tosh is this? Cleaned the PCV valve?

 

No good, it must be replaced. The spring in it weakens with time and it stops functioning correctly. The cam seals on my EJ22 started leaking at 150k miles, and replacing the PCV slowed it down, but after 13 years of service I did have to replace the seals themselves. And now its all tight.

 

I say replace the valve and make sure the PCV hoses aren't blocked. The valve should be replaced every 30k miles anyway.

 

Rings and such should really be intact with such a low mileage.

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Guest mattocs

in the last 6,000 miles I had my oil seals and cam seals redone...leaked out of oil seals...ran well for 2,000 miles...then started leaking out of the cam seals...I hope there is no more leaking...

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Guest spagemurray

I think you need to try Auto-Rx before you get into the engine. Wont repair torn seals but sure helps dirty/hard leaky ones.

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