Oil Leak

[David Mauriello]

Hi,

I just noticed that I have a small oil leak under the front of the engine.
The oil seems to be dripping down through the plastic timing belt cover.
More oil seems to leak after a period of highway speed driving. My first
guess is that the crankshaft oil seal is the culprit. Are there other
places that would also be good leak candidates?

Since it is almost time to change the timing belt, this is probably a good
opportunity to kill two birds with one stone. I'm going to have them look at
the timing belt tensioner as well. Any other items I should consider fixing?
Does anyone have some idea how much this all may cost?

Thanks,

Dave

 

[Jim Stewart]

Hi,

I just noticed that I have a small oil leak under the front of the engine.
The oil seems to be dripping down through the plastic timing belt cover.
More oil seems to leak after a period of highway speed driving. My first
guess is that the crankshaft oil seal is the culprit. Are there other
places that would also be good leak candidates?

You've called the most likely suspect.

Since it is almost time to change the timing belt, this is probably a good
opportunity to kill two birds with one stone. I'm going to have them look at
the timing belt tensioner as well. Any other items I should consider fixing?
Does anyone have some idea how much this all may cost?

Water pump
Thermostat
Tensioner
Oil pump o-ring, Locktite backplate screws
Camshaft seals
Crankshaft seal
Fan belts
New coolant
Spark plugs

Good to go for another 80k-100k miles

Do it yourself with mail-order parts, $350
Dealer $1000+
Independent shop $800+

 

[Peter Johnston]

You also have to camshaft seals that will leak. Find a good mechanic that
KNOWS subarus. Otherwise your dealership will evicerate you for this
mantenance. All the front accessories have to be removed to bgain access to
the timng belts. Also, you don't just "pop" in any of these seals. Go down
to your library ands look at a Haynes or Chilton manual for your car.
You'll see what I mean.

Ask about the number of "hours" the job will take. If you say OK, replace
the main crank seal. The book says XX number of hours. If you say, OK,
while you are there, do the camshaft seals, MAKE SURE THE DEALER DOESN'T
CHARGE YOU THE SAME HOURS TO GAIN ACCESS FOR THE CAMSHAFT SEALS. THEY WILL
CHARGE YOU FOR THE "DISSASSEMBLY" TWICE. I.e. If it is 2hours to gain
access to the main, the hours charged for the cam seals should not include
disassembly.

Better still, get rid of your Suby NOW. I promise you, it will only get
worse. When my head-gaskets failed, I was quoted AD$2,300 to replace them.
PARDON ME? I bought the gaskets for CAD$60 and did it myself.

Your choice. Just be sure to take an air-sickness bag along for when they
give you the estimate!!

 

[Rick Courtright]

Better still, get rid of your Suby NOW. I promise you, it will only get
worse. When my head-gaskets failed, I was quoted AD$2,300 to replace them.
PARDON ME? I bought the gaskets for CAD$60 and did it myself.

Ok, I'm confused...

Whose dollars did you pay for all this with? Is AD a typo for CAD, or
did you get a quote in Oz, then head back to Canada to do the work? And
even so, where did you find head gaskets so cheap? Best I can find is
about $125 US, or around $185-190 CAD. That's a head gasket kit with the
other seals, though. Is that what you got?

Rick

 

[hippo]

Fair question Rick! Peter - what's the problem with r&r seals? If you're
already doing a timing belt then the crank seal probably adds 30-60 mins
work max. Cam seals are a different story but probably wouldn't be first
suspect for a leak that seems central.

 

[JoeZZLevy]

My old '88 "Loyale" (1.8L turbo) tended to leak through the camshaft seals.
I got into the habit of asking the shop to change the seals every time they
did the timing belt, which solved the problem just fine. I think they
charged me for 15 minutes extra labor on the seals.

I put 226K miles on that car...

Joe

 

[Henry Paul]

I did all 3 seals with the timing belt. Piece of cake. All of the factory
Subie parts cost me about $199 and I had a water pump and timing cover in
there as well.

 

[Peter Johnston]

Hi Guys:

My post was basically a caution. Some mechanics (not all) will double-bill
the hours for dis-assembly. Screwy system.

Regarding the costs for my head gaskets - I buy them here in Calgary, Canada
from a long-time auto-parts supplier. Whether they gave me a break I don't
know. I paid what I paid. And "CAD$" means Canadian dollars.

Henry:

Looks like you have a good parts department working for you. I haven't done
the seals because they haven't needed replacement. So, no, not all things
with my Suby are lamentable.

Thanks for the feed-back.

Peter

 

[Henry Paul]

I actually get all my parts out of state from Auburn Subaru in Washington.
They give a 30% discount for internet/out of state referral and do UPS
shipping in about 2 days. Shipping from Washington to Utah was cheaper than
sales tax here and they undercut the local Suby dealers here by a
considerable amount.