I tried to search for this, but 'Oil' and 'Pan' are apparently aren't long enough words and got thrown out of the search.

 

I had an oil leak on my 2004 forester. This was shortly after I changed my oil, so I figured it was from my drain plug washer (I forgot to buy a new one when I changed the oil and figured the old one could last). So I drained all of the oil, put on a new washer, and refilled the oil. A few hours later, I had a little puddle of oil again.

 

Upon further investigation, i discovered that a rusty patch on my oil pan that I had previously noticed and figured I should brush off and paint, had rusted the whole way through!! Oil was weeping through the rust spot, and pretty fast, too!

 

I had the pan replaced (which sucked because I couldn't do it myself without unmounting and hoisting the engine), but I am just curious if anyone else has had this issue and if anyone might have an idea as to how to prevent it from happening again. I'm pretty sure it was just some kind of fluke, but figured I'd ask just to be sure. There were several other rust spots on the pan, too, but almost no rust anywhere else on the car.

 

Thoughts? Advice?

Keep it painted.  If it's new you could under coat it.  I've seen some pretty rusty ones, but not here in CO.

When I worked at a shop I replaced more subaru oil pans than I can count, plus the pan on two of my own subarus. You don't have to hoist the engine up, just unbolt the exhaust, dog bone, engine mount nuts, then jack the whole thing up from the front diff/transmission. I've done it on my own car with nothing more than just a spare tire jack and a small set of sockets. 

 

It's not a hard job, just a shitty job because you're laying under a car with oil dripping on your face trying to access bolts with crap access.

Edited April 12, 201312 yr by 987687