Crankshaft seal on '99 Subaru Legacy gives out...any chance of warranty repair?

The other day, my wife came home worried because her car was laying a huge plume of smoke in its wake. I tried to check the oil, and seeing barely any (and seeing a bunch of it on the ground under the car) got her immediately to a local repair shop. They confirmed that the crankshaft seal had given out (and the car was THIS CLOSE to being out of oil...) This shop wants $500 to repair the seal, replace the timing belt, replace the oil pump (or at least the seals on the oil pump) etc. That's about what the Subaru dealer quotes as well.

OK, now here are the questions:

1) I have been told by some people that a repair to the crankshaft seal would be considered part of the drivetrain, and covered by the drivetrain warranty? Is that true?

2) Car is 5 years and 1.5 weeks old, very low mileage (about

Reply to
David P
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1 & 2 Not very likely. Mine is 4 years/85k and I was told by several, not a chance.

See my post "Yet another timing belt story" I put it up Sunday. If you can't find it, confirm your email address and I'll send it to you. I don't think there are that many gotchas that will hurt you down the road, just a lot of labor and detail intensive tasks. Any independent shop should be able to do it. Make sure that they understand to remove the oil pump, locktite the 5 screws, and change both the seal and the o-ring.

There's good arguments for replacing the timing belt tensioner, the camshaft seals, the water pump and all the belts while you're in there.

Reply to
Jim Stewart

I would consider it part of the powertrain. Weather they will honor it

10 days after the expiration date is another question. I just had Apple deny coverage on my my Ibook that was 2 days out of warranty. I also just had auto zone deny a battery warranty that was 1 day out! I would go with the dealer for that repair.
Reply to
Rob Munach

If you've been a loyal customer of the dealer, they will likely cover it under the warrantee. Otherwise, well, it can't hurt to ask...

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Reply to
Alan

Contact Subaru of America and see what they can do. They might be able to "pre-aprove" the repair and refer you to a local dealer.

I have heard from my Subaru dealer on multiple occasions that Subaru dealers have some wiggle room when it comes to waranty repairs. If a problem arises after the waranty limit, they can pursuade Subaru to approve the repair if it's 100 miles over the coverage limit. When it comes to time limits, I think the same logic should apply.

I would say that you have a 50/50 chance in getting Subaru to extend the waranty coverage, just for this case.

Best wishes!

J Rosario

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Reply to
Joaquin Rosario

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