Today i was installing some rear camber bolts on my SVX, when my dad pulls up in his 90 legacy 5sdp. The first thing i hear is tiking, the valves were tiking pretty bad, so i opened the hood to check the oil, there was some smoke :-\ , so i checked for a leak, and found out that oil was leaking from the timing cover any idea what seal went bad? So any way i added some oil, about 1.5 quarts :-\ and turned on the car again to see if the tiking would stop, it dident. Maybe the car has very little oil presure, or maybe perament damage, i dont know, but here is my main question should we keep the car? The car needs a new heater core, i guess complete timing belt job, and the car is poping out of gear in 4th, and maybe 5th. The car gave us way more than we expected with 345,000 miles do you think we should give it up? I can do all the work my self, and can get all the timing belt parts for around $100, but we could get a another 1 gen legacy for under 1 grand in decent conditon and with alot less milles, and probley alot less work, with a better trannie , and heater core.

Sounds like the oil pump gasket/seals are bad. Should be easy enough to fix with a rebuild kit for the oil pump. This should also fix the lifter tick.

i just found oil leaking out of my front cover also. I am a tech. by trade and just recieved my 4 camshaft seals, a crank seal, a new timing belt, and water pump. You will probally need the same. While i am in there i am also replacing radiator and heater hoses, and t-stat. leaking oil inside the cover will get on the timing belt since you said you were going to change the t-belt, the seals wont be that bad. I am doing the job on monday and let you know how it goes if you would like. I can try to answer any questions you have.

cam seals...thats what I think it is.

 

 

Oil pump seals..a little oil

 

Cam seals..a lot of oil

Sence I cant find a legacy to replace it this weekend, ive decided to to do a timing belt job, and replace all those seals in there. Are there any instructions on the internet some were? Thanks

This is where a FSM is needed. If you cant find/borrow one, you can use a Chiltons. If you have problems just ask.

Does any one know if the parts are the same for the ej18, and the ej22, becasue we havea imported engine that is a ej18 in the leagcy. I was told they were all iner changable.

Since you live in Seattle why don't you go down to Aaron's in White Center. They usually have some decent subs for sale, usually cheap because they might need a little work. But not as much as yours from the sounds of it. They would probably take yours in for a trade in since they're a subaru wrecking yard. 345K! Sure that's a testament to subarus but just think of all the other things that will start to wear out soon. I'd trade it in on something with less mileage. Good luck.

just replaced my leaking crank seal, water pump, timing belt, and lower frt. cover seal, cam seals were not leaking, and i have 90,000 miles on my 97 legacy gt 2.5liter. I left the am seal alone because they showed no signs of seapage. I did the job at the shop I worked at and it only took about 2 1/2 hours with air tools, and no specialty tools. I changed the t-stat, heater and radiator hoses. No more oil leaking at this time. It was a lot easier than I expected.

I tried tday but couldent get the carnk pullie off, i had my dad step on the brakes, and have it in gear, but the pullie would move about 270 deggres from drive train slack, and then i couldent get the bar i was using any further becasue it would hit the frame. Any ideas on how to get the pullie off? Did you just use a impact wrench? I know there is a special subaru only tool for this, does any one know were to get it, or a place to borrow it from?

take a breaker bar with the right size socket on it, put it on the crank with the handle of the breaker bar lying on the frame right in front of where the battery is. when this is done, tap the key once and this will loosen the crank bolt. tghe motor turns in a clockwise direction so putting the handle of the breaker bar by the battery will make the crank bolt loosen from centrifugal force. any more questions i can help with.

Thanks alot, i was thinking about doing some thing like that but was scared it would screw something up.

no problem, anytime

I got the crank pullie off, but now i cant get the cam pullie off, i shoved a wrech in there to jam it, and it did, but the wrench broke before the bolt came loseb :-\ so i put a craftsman wrench in there ( if it breaks i can return it), It bent the wrench so it has a 35 deggre angle in it now this bolt does not want to break.

there has to be a special tool to hold the pulley while you loosen the bolt. I would not try a chain wrench, maybe a strap wrench?? Does your cam pulley have a large nut shape built in to it? Not the bolt, but on the pulley itself? When I get home from work I will check out some info am=nd get back to you.

I dont think it has a nut shape. I put the timing belt back on, to try the same method you told me to use for the crank pullie.

You can probably get away with doing that but it makes me cringe when I think about it. A chain wrench works really well if you cut a piece of the old timing belt and use it to protect the pulley. Be careful with the timing covers. The proper tool is only $25 so if you have time that would be the best bet. A strap wrench may work if it is a really good one, the craftsman one I have is really springy and probably wouldn't work.

i like that chain wrench with an old piece of belt idea. i will have to keep that in mind.

Were can i get the tool? Ive called around and cant find it.

did you try the chain wrench? ask the subaru dealer if they can get the tool, or find out the manufactuer of the tool and call them, i can almost say that kent-moore will probally make it, try a tool dealer

http://www.thetoolwarehouse.net/shop/SP-96800.html

 

http://www.thetoolwarehouse.net/shop/LIS-38220.html

Thanks, i got the cam pullie off using a strap wrench. Im put the cam pullie back on, and now the whole cam gear wobbles alot. What bearing is bad? The seal i replaced opn the cam, was popped out completly.

My guess is you didn't get it back on correctly if it didn't wobble before you removed it.

It only goes on one way. Ill take it off and put it back on.