So I’ve put up with the retched smoke smell long enough. I've been crawlin' all over my 99 2.5 OBS and found a few leaks. It seems that there is oil leaking around the pan and what appears to be the front cover of the engine.

 

I've searched the threads but can't seem to get a good idea of what it will take to get this stuff "Sealed-up" again. The car has 55K on it and other than the leaks; it's a good cruiser. I plan to do the work myself, but admittadly, I have little experience with Subaru's.

 

Your thoughts?

Valve cover gaskets tend to leak, but usually not at such a low mileage. If there is oil seeping at the very front of the engine it is likely to be the crank and camshaft seals. Easy to replace....once you have removed the timing belt

Setright is on track. The crank and camshaft seals are known for leaking on Subaru engines. Your timing belt may have oil on it too. Plan on doing a full timing belt 'plus' job. That is, belt, seals, service oil pump, maybe t-stat, check belt tensioner, etc. There are some good articles and write ups on this for Subaru engines. I saved several pdfs that were on a site a while back. I think it is also part of the endwrench articles.

 

The other possibility is valve covers. If it is only that, then you could hold off on the other stuff for a while. Does your engine call for a t-belt change at 60k, or 105k miles?

 

Commuter

You know, I couln't tell you right off hand what the T-belt interval is. I am going to dig out the manual and check that out. After I posted the message I did some checking around and got pretty much the same advice, T-stat, T-belt, Oil pump service and seals.

 

If I go to the stealer and ask for these parts will they look at me like I'm stoned? Or is all this stuff pretty common? What would you estimate this would cost at the stealer vs. my performing the repair?

 

Questions, questions, questions...

 

T

Apparently there are also seals for the bolts that hold the valve cover on and it appears mine are leaking there (noticed after I changed the valve cover gaskets).

I got all the parts at the dealer for doing the front seals including the tbelt for $150 I recommend you get a puller for taking the pulleys off I broke mine when I was trying to pry it off I broke one of the 4 little tabs off which some how is a sensor for each cylinder. it was about $40 dollars to replace. the puller is $15 dollars at napa. replace the cam seals as well. I would not worry about the water pump at such a low mileage and get the o-ring for the oil pump as well as tighten the oil pump housing on the inside of the oil pump no reason to pull it off though.

hth

matt

First thing, confirm you have a clean/new/functioning PCV valve and associated hose. If its clogged/bad it will exacerbate any leak.

 

man, that's a lot of greve/slash/line thingies isn't it?

 

Carl

1 Lucky Texan

Your OBS may still be under warranty for engine/drivetrain. The engine/drivetrain warranty is 60k/5 years, so I'd see if you could get the dealer to do it before you start messing around with it.

A bottle of Auto-Rx usually fixes seal leaks as long as the seals arn't damaged. Use with dino and follow the new updated instructions on the RX site. Sludge and any contaminants will be cleaned as well. It has transformed my OB and Mazda turbo.

Does anyone have experience with any of these additives to stop leaks where it involves the seal between engine and auto trans? I seem to be going through diff oil on a fairly regular basis. The bottom of my car looks and smells like the oil fields of Iraq (not on fire though) and I'm sure I am also seeping from the valve cover bolt seals and probably the oil pump etc.. Is there a predictable additive fix for these varieities of leaks?

It's a 90 Loyale AT with east coast rust galore at 144K miles. I hate to throw too much in the way of mechanical fixes at it... how about the new 2004 model hmmmmmm...