pbennett45

Thanx for the reply. Probably got another couple years til the timing belt is due. I've read up on the valve cover gasket and I think I could probably do those on my own - yea I know, no kids within an earshot when ya do the passenger side one. I'm a bit of a car repair newb, but I can do oil changes and front brakes and rotors (i.e. disc brakes) without much trouble - I'm not COMPLETELY mechanically uninclined. Worthwhile to maybe do the gaskets on my own and see if the leak slows down enough to hold out until the timing belt is due anyway?

New to the forum.. have a '98 forester at 200k miles... had great luck with it so far... nothing beyond usual maintanence and expected things wearing out. For about 2 years now (last 30k miles or so) it's been leaking ~1quart of oil per 2000 miles (I top it off once between oil changes, then it's down again at the next oil change). I expected the seperator plate - had heard it was common on subarus - took it to the dealer and they said cam shaft seals and valve cover gasket... their price was way too much to spend on a 10+ year old car (would have gone with the dealer for the seperator plate, but any mechanic can do the other stuff) so I took it to my local guy who I like a lot. He's telling me he thinks it's more the seperator plate than the other stuff! But he' also saying at 1qt/2000 miles don't bother with it because fixing it is likely to just add pressure and burst somethign else. I'd love to get another 50k miles out of it (i.e. 3 more years til I'm done paying off the other car)... but I'm hesitant to just leave things I know are wrong... Any opinions? Is it at the point where if I want to keep it I need to learn to work on it myself and just rebuild the engine to be worth it? Should I just eek the last few years out of it with a few oil leaks? Is it just gonna be a money pit if I start sinking $800 at a time into it now? Thanx for the thoughts.