DupermanDave

Fixed it! Seems the ultra gray was a better choice than the red RTV. No more leaks. No more smoke. Thanks for all the help. Although it took 3 tries, I was determined to get this fixed. I was never a subaru fan until we bought this, and even though it had the leak, it's been pretty easy to work on. The one peeve I have is that I was looking at replacing a few other bits once the leak was fixed, and the thermostat looks like a pain in the butt to get to. There's also a ton of hidden sensors under vacuum lines and the intake manifold. I'm not a fan of that. But overall it was a decent job and I don't dread working on this engine at all.

Yup. That's 3 times in the past week. I haven't had a day off from work in a while. While Friday and Saturdays are my typical days off from work, they were spend yanking the engine out and sealing up that plate again.

Well, pulling the engine 3 times for this leak is frustrating. I got a good gasket made and I let it fully cure for 24 hours. I then took more ultra gray RTV and smeared it on the outer edge to try and create a good second barrier. That's curing now while the engine is back in the car and everything is assembled. No oil or coolant has been put in yet, as I'm letting it sit longer.

Got the engine out AGAIN today. Looks like the leak was the oil separator plate...AGAIN...this time in a different spot. My gasket must have been bad. This time I used a good straight bead of ultra gray RTV, put the plate on and finger tightened the bolts and then waited an hour before making them snug. I also smeared some extra RTV around the outer edge of the plate just because I'm paranoid. We'll see how this holds up. My next fix will be welding the plate on.

i'll double check the leak on friday. i got the steel replacement plate. is that easily bendable? Also, is red RTV or ultra gray recomended for this? one more thing i just remembered. aside from using 1 quart more than recommended, the truck is still on jackstands. the front is lifted, but not the rear. could this cause it to leak and once it's level it won't leak?

If you've been following my threads here: http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=101355 http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=113770&page=2 I've been dealing with an oil leak for quite some time. I attempted to repair it last year and failed. This year I've gone the route of removing the engine and trying to get to the oil separator plate. I succeeded....sort of. I removed the engine and replaced the oil separator plate and used red RTV for the gasket. I put the engine back in and had a big transmission fluid leak. Turns out I tore the transmission seal and needed to replace that. So out came the engine a second time. Replaced the seal and put the engine back in. Now I've got what appears to be the exact same oil leak coming from between the engine and oil separator plate. I was almost completely positive the leak wasn't the rear main seal (although I do have that part standing by to be replaced.) The leak looked like it was the oil separator plate at the lower left portion of the plate. It wasn't cracked, but the gasket was worn away. So here's my dilema: what is leaking? Should I replace the rear main seal, even though that may not be the problem? I'm pretty skilled with RTV, but could I have messed up the gasket on the oil separator plate? What's going on? I need some encouragement here. The oil only leaks when the engine is off and not running. When the engine is running it doesn't leak at all. When it's turned off, it leaks a good amount. When I added the oil, I poured all 5 quarts in because I read that was the requirement. Now I'm reading that 4 quarts is the limit. Is it possible I just overfilled it and that's causing the leak? Or could overfilling it caused too much pressure and broke the seal my RTV made with the oil plate and engine?

I took a chance and just pulled the clip out with paperclip that was unbent to make a hook. I pulled out the inner shaft and saw how it all was supposed to go together. I got the torque converter seated and the engine is now mated to the transmission. Let's hope this time it doesn't spring a leak again.

I found the clip. I tried pulling that smaller shaft out and installing it into the transmission, but it was still not going to budge in and seat a second time. I looked into the shaft and wiped the transmission fluid out and saw a bit of a "spring" that might be blocking it from seating the second time. I almost got the spring clip out, but I'm too scared to remove it. I may make the situation worse. What do I need to do with this clip? Should I just try and get it seated and out of the way?

I've replaced the seal. It slid in quite nicely. I was dreading having to pound it in all afternoon. Now I'm trying to seat the torque converter again. Last time I did it it was a freak accident. I was just wiggling and rotating and slicing my fingers. This time I'm more careful because of the seal but I cannot get it seated. It's a W.I.P, though, so I'll eventually get it.

Would it still need to be removed if I am able to get the new seal in place and the torque converter seated properly? I just don't want to remove anything else and break something else in the process if it's not absolutely necessary. -edit- I found that link: http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=112094&highlight=converter+spring+clip My dad said he got the center shaft seated and it no longer wobbles or slides out. I think it's good. Is it still absolutely necessaru to remove it to get the torque converter in?

Okay, thanks. Will replace that ASAP. Does anyone know the name/part number for this seal? As for that shaft with the splines coming from the transmission, that smaller center shaft has some play in it and my dad was wiggling it and it slid out a little. Is that normal? Or did we just break something with that too? -edit- I was fiddling around with the current seal in place and it's definitely bad. I prodded around with a screwdriver and the bottom bit of rubber is split and the spring is coming out.

We got the engine lifted out again and I snagged some pics of the torque converter and the transmission. Could someone point out where the seal should have been? There is a rubber seal on the transmission that's pretty obvious, but it doesn't look like it's leaking. I got a picture of the torque converter with the shaft with those two notched. Is the seal supposed to be around that?

Well there's our problem! When we took the torque converter off, all we had was a metal shaft. No seal or anything. I don't believe it fell off, because we didn't find anything that could have been a seal on the ground. It could have broken up inside, though.

We never used the bolts to pull the thing to gether. We did a combination of lifting the transmission, lifting the engine, and tilting the engine on the harness. We also installed the torque converter on the transmission first and then lowered the engine and bolted the torque converter to the engine. There's an access hole at the top of the engine that allows you to get to the holes of the torque converter. It's definitely transmission fluid. What's the name of this seal? I see 2 parts listed on auto parts websites: input shaft seal and a torque converter seal. Which do I need? Are there any tips and techniques I can use so I don't shred the seal again? I'm more peeved at having to drain the coolant and oil again. That's a messy job and I hate doing that. Fluids are a nightmare.

I just got done repairing the oil leak at the separator plate. I filled the engine with coolant and oil and turned it on and it started gushing liquid from below. I thought it was oil at first, but it turned out to be transmission fluid. When I run the engine, there's 2 streams coming from the engine/transmission joined area. I am able to engage drive and drive it forward and reverse actually engages and reverses the car. But it still leaks. The only thing we messed with on the transmission was the torque converter. We were able to seat that and the bell housing meets the engine seamlessly, so there's no reason to thing it hasn't been seated properly. What else could be causing the leak? Does the engine need to come out again? (I hope not. I'm exhausted from yanking the engine yesterday and finalizing the installation today.)