Oil Leak

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

Reply to
David Mauriello
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You've called the most likely suspect.

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+

Reply to
Jim Stewart

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!!

Reply to
Peter Johnston

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

Reply to
Rick Courtright

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.

Reply to
hippo

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

Reply to
JoeZZLevy

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.

Reply to
Henry Paul

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

Reply to
Peter Johnston

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.

Reply to
Henry Paul

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