cphilgreen Posted July 28, 2019 Share Posted July 28, 2019 Good day to all i am purchasing a 1996 Subaru Legacy Outback for my son's 1st car. it has 176K took it to the dealer for a pre-purchase inspection, they listed a few things that are relatively simple fixes except one thing that i can not find mentioned any where "possible leak from rear access plug" estimated cost to fix $1090.00! What is a rear access plug? the dealer stated the transmission would have to be removed to do the job. Is it a rear main seal? i'm asking if anyone has knowledge of this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FerGloyale Posted July 28, 2019 Share Posted July 28, 2019 it's a plate next to the rear main seal that is sealed with RTV. Often the cause of bad leaks. Mistaken for rear main leaks but ussually it's the plate. $1000 is steep, but yes the engine and trans have to be seperated to fix. Personally I pull the engine, rather than drop the trans, but either way it has to be seprated. My minimum charge for this job would be about $550 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john in KY Posted July 28, 2019 Share Posted July 28, 2019 Also each head has an oil seal. The one on the passenger-side there to accommodate a distributor. Some markets used a distributor. The other side, don't know why there. From my experience, the passenger-side will be leaking. The oil separator plate mentioned above always leaks over time but if you spring for this job, Definitely have those other 2 seals replaced. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idosubaru Posted July 29, 2019 Share Posted July 29, 2019 How familiar is this area, or shop, with Subaru’s? It’s fairly easy to get a misdiagnosis, valve cover leaks always blow/flow/drip/gravitate back and center where it looks like it’s the rear main seal. if the shop isn’t really familiar with Subaru’s and sees them all the time they might see that central leak and just assume the cause is also centered, which often isn’t accurate for Subaru’s Unless they’re really familiar with Subaru’s I would assume we really don’t know if this is a $50 valve cover or $1,000 rear separator plate issue. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idosubaru Posted July 29, 2019 Share Posted July 29, 2019 Take and post pictures underneath the car - all of it, not just the area that’s most wet and we may be able to help Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lmdew Posted July 29, 2019 Share Posted July 29, 2019 (edited) It's got the 2.5 DOHC engine which has head gasket issues. If the HG have not been done, expect to do them. Better to find a Subaru with a 2.2 engine in the 95-99 year range. Here's a nice one: https://cosprings.craigslist.org/cto/d/colorado-springs-2000-subaru-impreza/6939205493.html Edited July 29, 2019 by lmdew Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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