My 96 2.5L is dropping about 1qt. of oil per 20 feet. Yes - 20 feet! Have all of the seals gone at the same time or what? The timing belt seems to be dry, but a couple of the timing cover bolts-threads were saturated. It is too messy for me to tell.

no not all the seals - you have one compromised seal. if the timing covers are wet it's going to be a cam seal, crank seal, or the oil pump seal (anaerobic sealant). most likely it's one of the seals and will be obvious once the timing covers are off...or at least should be obvious. actually it doesn't matter you should replace them all once you're in there anyway since you have to remove the timing belt to get to them. silly to remove it, replace one seal that's leaking and neglect the other seals that only cost a couple dollars each and are right there in front of you with the timing belt off. Subaru charges $699 (last quote i saw) for a timing belt change....so replacing one seal for $700...only to have another one start leaking at the end of the year is silly when they're only a few dollars each. many, including myself, replace all of the seals with every timing belt job on EJ25's. with a timing belt change interval of 105,000 miles you're expecting the seals to last 200,000 miles if you don't replace them, it can happen but it's a bit risky (as you're finding out).

 

when was the timing belt replaced and how many miles on the car?

 

get a new timing belt if there's any chance this oil got on the belt. i installed a new timing belt last year that only lasted a few months and not even 10,000 miles due to getting oil on it from a leaking seal. the oil compromises the seal. no big deal for my buddy, i just installed a new belt when it broke. on your car though - the 2.5 is an interference engine and will sustain internal engine damage if the timing belt breaks.

This is a lot of oil. Don't know if this engine has a pressure sensor attached to the oil pump but I would look there first. Checking to see if it ruptured.

you checked for something obvious like the oil filter?

you checked for something obvious like the oil filter?

 

The oil plug and filter are intact and tight. The belt appears to be dry. I guess I will take all of the pullys off and rcheck/replace the seals. So there are the 4 cam seals the crank seal and the oil pump sealant that should be replaced? The car has about 150,000mi. I don't know when the timing belt was replaced.

yes 4 cam seals and the crank seal and the oil pump sealant. Subaru recommends Anaerobic sealant which is the best to use here but use RTV - that just runs the risk of coagulating in the oil supply if too much is used or put in the wrong place. with the oil pump off you'll want to check all the screws on the rear backing plate - you can't miss them. they tend to come loose, just locktite them and reinstall.

 

i'd go ahead and replace your belt if you don't know. being an interference engine, bad mojo ($$$$) if the belt breaks.

 

look up the endwrench article on doing an EJ25 DOHC timing belt job, print that out, it's Subaru's tech articles, very helpful and straight forward. read through it.

Here's some common soob oil leak locations:

Here are the most common Subaru oil leak locations with pics:

 

Front cam seals (especially the earlier black colored seals; the newer brownish colored ones hold up better) (pics from an EJ22):

 

Front crank seal (esp the mid 90's 2.2L's and some others where the screws on the rear case of the oil pump tended to loosen, letting oil out the front crank seal and sometimes even pushing the seal right out)

 

Also there is an o-ring between the oil pump discharge and block

 

The valve cover gaskets, and for engines where the spark plug tubes penetrate the valve cover, the spark plug hole seals.

 

EJ22's also have an o-ring at the LH rear and RH front of the cam's:

 

Also rear main seal, especially if the vehicle had a plastic rear main seal retainer/oil separator (an OEM upgrade to a metal retainer is available).

[...]Here are the most common Subaru oil leak locations with pics:

[...]

Great post!

i'll add that some EJ's also have an oring behind the cam caps that hold the cam seals. i can't recall if the EJ25 DOHC has those or not but replace them if it does. they won't be your pouring problem but they do leak over time and at your age/mileage it's time to replace them...plus you're right in there anyway and i think it's only 2 bolts to replace them.

Oh yes good point that one is missing in the pics:

Most excellent spread Porc, as usual.

 

I do have a question,

you were pointing

out oil leaks

the H20 pump pulley has an arrow pointing to

behind the pulley.

 

Is there an oil gallery there?

 

Maybe you meant leak in general?

Oh good point, sorry, yes the 'water pump' thing is just for identification of the water pump, not saying oil could leak out there. though if you get an oil leak there the engine might have more serious problems!

if you get an oil leak there

the engine might have more serious problems!

You ain't whislen' Dixie there mate!!!

 

Do you think we should mention the

T-belt tensioner?

On a similar note:

 

These leaks we are pointing out all

for the most part are "seepers"

(please excuse the semantics)

 

AZTOAK, is driving the Exxon Valdez.

 

I once had this happen (1qt/20 feet)

to an EA82T so it may not be relevant.

 

But, due to a severe clog in the PVC system

the crankcase pressure became so high it

blew a seal out of it's housing.

 

Could this be part of his problem?

That's true, for one quart in 20 feet it has to be a good rip in the hull. That leak should be spottable at idle just based on the waterfall like stream coming out! Like if you see this guy show up in your driveway, you might have a serious oil leak

has the oil filter been replaced recently? I've heard that the old filter seal can stay on the engine when the filter is removed. If the mechanic didn't notice this and put a new oil filter on, you now have 2 gaskets and they will leak big time.

has the oil filter been replaced recently? I've heard that the old filter seal can stay on the engine when the filter is removed. If the mechanic didn't notice this and put a new oil filter on, you now have 2 gaskets and they will leak big time.

hm good point. Yes the old seal can get stuck on there. I had this happen a long time ago on an escort and didn't notice it and was greated by a small fountain of oil spraying up and coating the engine bay.

on more than one occassion i've seen oil seals pouring out oil. probably 3 or 4 times.

 

it will gush right out of those seals like the exxon valdez. i've seen oil pump shaft seal and crank seals both do it (yes, same thing on EJ engines)....it just dumps right out, steady stream on the ground.

 

in one case the crank seal was wobbling in the housing, i don't know how it didn't pop all the way out.