I noticed a puddle of oil under my '95 Impreza with the 2.2 a few hours after my morning commute into work. After cleaning off the oil pan and surrounding areas, I noticed a stream of oil running down the tube which goes into the oil pan for the dipstick. I traced the leak back to the section where the upper tube goes into the part attached to the oil pan. Is there an o-ring which seals these two parts together? I cannot locate the ring in any parts schematic, so I'm scratching my head. Can anyone shed some light on this and, perhaps, supply me with the o-ring specs and/or a part number? I haven't gone to my dealer to ask yet, figured I'd start here. Thanks for the help!

tbolt1003,

 

I don't have the shop manual on your car so I can't verify whether there is an "O ring" at that location, but it makes sense that there is, based on many other cars that I've worked on.

 

That said, pull out the dip stick and then see if you can move and remove the section of the tube you're referring to. If indeed there is an O ring there, just take the old one to any car parts supplier and get a replacement. They have boxes of O rings in all sizes for all kinds of applications, and can give you a replacement in a heart beat, where the dealership may take a day or two.

IIRC there are two. Just pull the stick and take it to a local auto/hardware store. This is not a critical part that has to dealer supplied.

 

O.

Edited April 19, 20169 yr by ocei77

I ran into this when I replaced my leaky oil pan with a Spectra pan. The o-rings they included with the pan leaked! I used a couple viton o-rings from a Harbor Freight set that includes several variations of sizes that sealed up my pan perfectly. 

806910170 x2

 

MSRP $0.98 ea at your local dealer

Thanks, everyone for the replies. I'm going to tackle this leak after work tomorrow.

Okay, here's my findings and I'm perplexed.

 

When I pulled the dipstick out to remove the tube, I noticed the oil was significantly higher on the stick than it should be...I'd guess a good inch above the full mark on the stick.

 

I did a complete oil change the weekend before, which consisted of a new oil filter and 4.5 quarts of oil. I used one of the 5 quart jugs of oil for this change, like I always do. Before going any further with the O-ring change, I drained all the oil out just to see if the crankcase was somehow over-filled. I came up with a little shy of 5 quarts in my drain pan. I then started adding the oil back to the pan, stopping to check the level. When the level finally showed "full" on the stick, I had a good 1-2 quarts left in the drain pan. I'm extremely confused. I have had this car for almost 8 years and never seen this before.

 

Is there any component inside the engine which would hold oil and not drain out? I'm not understanding how 4.5 quarts out of a 5 quart jug is suddenly over-full on the stick. Does this make sense to anyone? When I did the original oil change, I did notice only about 3 quarts came out after pouring the old oil into the empty 5-quart jug to take to my shop to be recycled. As far as I know, the engine is not using any oil and it stays around the "full" mark for the 5000 miles. Could the oil filter be defective and not allowing oil to enter it? After correcting yesterday's findings and corrections, the engine does seem to be running a bit smoother. Thoughts?

Edited April 26, 20169 yr by tbolt1003

I think that the problem is with the design of the dipstick.

 

I've always had problems getting an accurate reading of oil-level on my 2002 Forester.

What I have found is:

- I have to prep the dipstick each time by wiping it completely dry.

- Cannot get consistent reading when engine is warm.

- Cannot get consistent reading until engine has been off for several hours.

- Best reading is in mornings, with engine cold.

- Even then, I sometimes take a couple of readings, each with a dry dipstick.

 

I have never had any problems reading oil-level on my many other cars, only on this Forester.

Edited April 26, 20169 yr by forester2002s