my 98 forester is leaking small amounts of oil thru the drain plug. admittedly i didn't change the washer when i did an oil change. how tight do u tighten the plug? have any of you had similar problems?
- posted
19 years ago
oil leak-forester
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- posted
19 years ago
Hi,
Do you have a torque wrench handy? The spec for my old Subie's about 34 ft/lb IIRC. Check w/ your Subaru shop to be sure what's right for yours, but it should be pretty tight. Not 800 lb gorilla tight, but mine's tight enough it takes a good pull on a 1/2" breaker bar to break loose.
It's best to replace those crushable OEM gaskets every time you change oil, though they CAN live thru a coupla changes in a pinch. I got copper gaskets from the auto parts store--for me they last several changes. Also, inspect the threads on both the plug and pan next time you change oil. If someone's cross threaded the plug or used an air wrench on it in the past (I hope not!), there could be thread damage that will allow a leak no matter how you try to tighten it.
Good luck,
Rick
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19 years ago
Agree with Rick. Should come off without pulling a muscle with a 1/2" breaker bar. I suggest buying oem Subaru filters along with a new crush washer for each one. With a new crush washer, you can feel it deform then get hard as you tighten it. That's plenty tight. A dab of Permatex form-a-gasket on the top and bottom of a used crush gasket will help it to seal if you don't have a new one.