Oil spilled in engine compartment

[JAS1125]

Brought my new 2024 legacy in for a 6-month first maintenance check. They did an oil change brought the car home and started smoking in my garage. Found out when I brought the car back that the tech spilled oil into the engine compartment and didn't tell the service advisor until after I left. I've had the car back 3x now to clean up as I am still getting oil drips in my garage. Yesterday I dealt with the service manager he put a new oil filter on and thought that the issue was a bad seal. I am still getting a drip underneath the car although it seems less so far. Told him I'll drive it a day or two and then report back. They also cleaned the skid plate and said there were no other signs of leakage inside the compartment. Any ideas? I'm going to have them double check to make sure I have no other systems leakage but there was nothing wrong before I brought the car in for it 6 months check up. Thanks

 

[Lou O.]

Please check your dip stick to ensure that your not loosing oil. Put some cardboard under the vehicle to sop up the oil they spilled.. good luck!

 

[fongger]

At the risk of potentially damaging something else, the dealer could do an engine cleaning to get the residual oil off. But if they get electronic components wet, that might need something else up. It just depends if you want a clean as new engine or not.

Agree with previous post to check oil every so often, maybe 100-200 mile intervals until you are convinced there is no leakage.

 

[JAS1125]

Thanks Lou...been doing that since the spill. Since I made the original post I brought it back again and they found additional oil on top of the engine and cleaned it off. I've been driving the car everyday putting about 20-25 miles on and the dripping is still occurring but it seems to be less. They also kept the car overnight after they did the engine clean off. Makes me wonder how much oil was spilled. Since it seems to be dripping less I'm hoping that driving around will move it out of any crevices.

 

[fongger]

This would drive me nuts if it was my car. There is an engine degreaser that you could spray on and house off in your driveway. Again, watch out for electrical connections wet. Some people wrap them in plastic before spraying with water. If you focus on the bottom of the engine and underneath, you should be good.

Robot or human?

Check your engine oil dip stick level like previously suggested.

 

[keith3267]

If you have the basic 2.5L engine, the oil filter is right on top of the engine, drivers side front. It is a black canister. If the seal is leaking, you will see the cupped area around the filter base full of oil. This has to fill up before any oil can drip from it.

If you don't see oil there, then I suspect the "tech" may have damaged the threads of the oil plug and/or the oil pan bung. It is pretty difficult to cross thread the plug but if they used an impact wrench to tighten the plug, that could easily damage the threads.

It is possible that the tech could have simply forgot to put a new crush washer on the plug or didn't remove the old washer before putting the new one on. Two washers are NOT better than one in this case.

If the threads are damaged, the dealer owes you a new oil pan. At this point, the dealer cannot blame someone else for the damage. If you go to another shop later for an oil change and they tell you the threads are damaged, you won't be able to prove that this was the dealers fault and a new oil pan is NOT cheap.

At the very least, keep all the paperwork from the dealer on this oil change, especially the paperwork from the attempted cleanup and the replacement of the filter the second time. That will be evidence if you have to go to court. If the dealer fights you on this and you have saved all the receipts, accept arbitration as the arbitrator will not be able to ignore this and will find in your favor.

 

[JAS1125]

If you have the basic 2.5L engine, the oil filter is right on top of the engine, drivers side front. It is a black canister. If the seal is leaking, you will see the cupped area around the filter base full of oil. This has to fill up before any oil can drip from it.

If you don't see oil there, then I suspect the "tech" may have damaged the threads of the oil plug and/or the oil pan bung. It is pretty difficult to cross thread the plug but if they used an impact wrench to tighten the plug, that could easily damage the threads.

It is possible that the tech could have simply forgot to put a new crush washer on the plug or didn't remove the old washer before putting the new one on. Two washers are NOT better than one in this case.

If the threads are damaged, the dealer owes you a new oil pan. At this point, the dealer cannot blame someone else for the damage. If you go to another shop later for an oil change and they tell you the threads are damaged, you won't be able to prove that this was the dealers fault and a new oil pan is NOT cheap.

At the very least, keep all the paperwork from the dealer on this oil change, especially the paperwork from the attempted cleanup and the replacement of the filter the second time. That will be evidence if you have to go to court. If the dealer fights you on this and you have saved all the receipts, accept arbitration as the arbitrator will not be able to ignore this and will find in your favor.

I have been keeping all the paperwork just in case. I specifically asked about the oil pan and plug and I was told by the service manager that everything was fine there. At this point I don't have any reason to believe him but if it keeps happening I'm might just bring it to another Subaru dealer to have them check it as well . They replaced the filter at my second visit and right now this one looks good to me. I'll double check it however. Thank you!

 

[keith3267]

I have been keeping all the paperwork just in case. I specifically asked about the oil pan and plug and I was told by the service manager that everything was fine there. At this point I don't have any reason to believe him but if it keeps happening I'm might just bring it to another Subaru dealer to have them check it as well . They replaced the filter at my second visit and right now this one looks good to me. I'll double check it however. Thank you!

Just a little more info, because the Subaru is a horizontally opposed engine, i.e. a flat engine, if you spill oil on it, there are a lot of little places where the oil will pool and drip from later. If you see oil drops on the drain plug, it does not necessarily mean that the plug is leaking because no matter how oil gets on the outside of the engine, it will seek the lowest point before dripping off.

A lot of rear main seals get replaced unnecessarily because a mechanic sees oil dripping from that area, but the leak more often than not is from something higher up such as the oil pressure sending unit or valve cover gasket. Look a little harder and you will see the trail from the actual leak down to the rear main seal area.

 

[JAS1125]

Just a little more info, because the Subaru is a horizontally opposed engine, i.e. a flat engine, if you spill oil on it, there are a lot of little places where the oil will pool and drip from later. If you see oil drops on the drain plug, it does not necessarily mean that the plug is leaking because no matter how oil gets on the outside of the engine, it will seek the lowest point before dripping off.

A lot of rear main seals get replaced unnecessarily because a mechanic sees oil dripping from that area, but the leak more often than not is from something higher up such as the oil pressure sending unit or valve cover gasket. Look a little harder and you will see the trail from the actual leak down to the rear main seal area.

I think that's why the shop has been saying that the problem is not in the plug or the pan. Just some overrun and excess that is slowly dripping out. So far today was clean and yesterday there was only 2 drops so hopefully it's winding down

 

[keith3267]

Winding down is a good sign because if it was a leak, it would not wind down

 

[JAS1125]

Winding down is a good sign because if it was a leak, it would not wind down

Winding down appears to be confirmed as I only had 1 drop overnight from using the vehicle yesterday.... And I just got my survey from Subaru of America!

 

[JAS1125]

More than 6 weeks later and I'm still getting a drop every few days. Still makes me wonder how much oil was actually spilled for it to go on this long.