wrongturninwv Posted October 27, 2010 Share Posted October 27, 2010 2001 Outback 3.0 wagon,130,000 miles. Went on a 700 mile trip to Chicago last week and noticed at stops a small amount of smoke coming out from under car. Checked things out and saw nothing wrong. When I got back to WV my local Subaru dealer was offering an free October car check out. I went for it to see if they could see what maby I missed since they have a rack to get a better look. I wasent ready for an oil change yet but they said the oil filter may be leaking.They wanted to change the oil filter and put back in the old oil. I said no way just give me the whole oil change. They had 2 tecks look under car for about 20 mins and came back and said I may need valve cover gaskets. I say how much we looking at ( thinking about $200 in my head ) , He looks at some paper and says about $800 with parts. I said what,do you have to pull the engine out to do the job. He says no it calls for 7 hours labor,and while we are doing that we may as well change the oil cooler and seals. I asked then why the oil cooler if its not bad cant you just change the seals. He says thats what Subaru calls for. I payed for my oil change and got far from there fast. Now come on guys 7 hours. Is this true ??? Have any of you guys changed these valve cover gaskets on the 3.0, how hard is it and how long did it take you ??? And why would you need another oid cooler ??? Maby they dont know what may be leaking cause you cant see much with the belly cover on any way. thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idosubaru Posted October 28, 2010 Share Posted October 28, 2010 11 bolts on each side. spark plugs and O2 sensor bits need to be removed and it's REALLY tight on the H6 engines. time consuming due to clearance. i'm going to bet it's one of those jobs that's 6 hours the first time you do it, then 2 or 3 the next. subaru might also be charging for lots of parts - the valve cover gaskets and the grommets are like $4 or $5 each, and there's like 22 total - so you could be paying $100 just for new grommets. plug valve cover gaskets, plus spark plug gaskets, plus labor. not sure, i haven't checked, but often the complete valve cover sets with gaskets and all grommets are only $30 or so at an auto parts store. if you do it yourself you'll want a 10mm ratcheting box end wrench, that's a very wise tool to have to work on subaru's and the valve cover bolts are usually where it's worth it's weight in potassium. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeneralDisorder Posted October 28, 2010 Share Posted October 28, 2010 I could see how it could add up to that easily. You have an H6 - that's going to be an expensive unit to maintain simply because there aren't as many of them - thus parts are more expensive from a supply/demand point of view and that engine is very tight to work on - especially around the spark plugs and valve cover area. Add in more labor for the oil cooler, etc and you are right in the ball-park. Is it a rip-off? Absolutely. But of course you have the choice of doing it yourself and it's going to be a frustrating job I'll tell you that right now . You'll spend an entire afternoon just getting the plugs out on your first go-around with that engine . GD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CNY_Dave Posted October 29, 2010 Share Posted October 29, 2010 I can't think of any reason the oil cooler would be involved in this job. Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rooster2 Posted October 29, 2010 Share Posted October 29, 2010 For a car coming up on being 10 years old, and with 130 K miles, I would be reluctant to spend $800 on simply valve cover gaskets, if it were my car. But, that is just me. My experience is that every Subaru that is at, or near 10 years old is going to leak oil from its gaskets. I would try the cheap and easy way out by adding a stop oil leak product additive to the engine oil. My experience is that it will help a lot, but won't totally stop the oil leak. I have done this on both my 98 and 99 OBWs with 2.5 motors and have achieved pretty good success. The oil spots from leakage while parked on my driveway are down to almost none now. I put a can of additive in at each oil change. The additive supposedly swells the gaskets to stop, or at least slow down the leaks. For about $5, per can, it is worth a try. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtdash Posted October 29, 2010 Share Posted October 29, 2010 Do the H6 need a valve adjustment? If so, might be worth it to get it all done while in there anyway. I would imagine THAT would add up too....24 valves? My .02. GL, Td Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeneralDisorder Posted October 29, 2010 Share Posted October 29, 2010 I'm sure they are bucket/shim or shimless-bucket. I have not seen that Subaru has a hydrualic bucket on anything so it would seem that all their DOHC designs require a valve adjustment at 105k. I would guess yes - and it won't be cheap - especially if it's shimless-bucket and you have to replace all the exhaust buckets - $16 each or some such nonesense . GD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AWDFTW Posted October 29, 2010 Share Posted October 29, 2010 At your next OCI I'd try a run of Valvoline Maxlife or Pennzoil High Mileage and see if that slows the leak down, both seem pretty good at minor seal/gasket weeping leaks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idosubaru Posted October 30, 2010 Share Posted October 30, 2010 (edited) i'd determine how easy/hard it is to do with the valve covers off and go from there. if it looks like a job you want to tackle then definitely tear it up while those painful covers are off. unfortunately i have no idea what that entails. i can't find my H6 FSM right now? Edited October 30, 2010 by grossgary Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nipper Posted October 30, 2010 Share Posted October 30, 2010 I would actually try some stop leak for gaskets. Sometimes with these types of gaskets it does wonders. 10.00 vs 800.00 and it wont hurt anything. Also get a price from an independent shop. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bheinen74 Posted October 30, 2010 Share Posted October 30, 2010 "They wanted to change the oil filter and put back in the old oil" wow, thats all i can say I dont think that is going to be good. What kind of dealer would even offer to recommend something of that sort. Thats a waste, unless the oil was just just changed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeneralDisorder Posted October 30, 2010 Share Posted October 30, 2010 Sealing up the leaks with some seal-swelling additives isn't going to stop an exhaust valve from being burned in a few thousand miles because the valve adjustment was neglected - I just did a head rebuild on an EJ25D because of a burnt exhaust valve at 169k - that's only 30k away for him.... Valve adjustment = removing valve covers. At that point I would just install new valve cover gaskets and grommets . GD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nipper Posted October 30, 2010 Share Posted October 30, 2010 (edited) Except he was NOT complaining about the car running poorly, loss of power, noisy valves or from a rough idle. GD you are not the only one who has rebuilt heads due to valves out of adjustment thank you, I have done quite a few of them. When somone comes in with a minor complaint and has his check book raped that is an entirely different story. He went in for what he considered a minor leak. The shop has shown its utter lack of skills by not wanting to do an oil change when changing the oil filter. Hell I even doubt they did a proper diagnostics on the valves except for the ol "while we are there" we can charge you another 400.00 dollars. Sometimes the While we are there is justifed, sometimes it is not, in this case I do not beleive it is. Personally I think they just saw easy pray and at worse they are lazy. Even if I beleived them I would not them do the work. It mat be a leaking oil filter... and it does not take two techs 20 minutes to diagnose a leaking valve cover. The first thing that should have been done if the leak was not obvious, was wash the under car and tell the customer to stop by the next day or so. This was not done. Like I said, get another opinion. Edited October 30, 2010 by nipper Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeneralDisorder Posted October 30, 2010 Share Posted October 30, 2010 When somone comes in with a minor complaint and has his check book raped that is an entirely different story. He went in for what he considered a minor leak. The shop has shown its utter lack of skills by not wanting to do an oil change when changing the oil filter. Hell I even doubt they did a proper diagnostics on the valves except for the ol "while we are there" we can charge you another 400.00 dollars. Sometimes the While we are there is justifed, sometimes it is not, in this case I do not beleive it is. Personally I think they just saw easy pray and at worse they are lazy. Even if I beleived them I would not them do the work. Like I said, get another opinion. I agree - the shop he took it to is clearly out to make him a "return customer" by only addressing what is wrong right now and not considering the whole situation. On the other hand - he did ask them to fix the leak and sometimes if you don't want to hear bad news you should just keep your head stuck in the sand..... what if they had determined it was the rear main or oil seperator plate?!? If you don't want a nice fat bill for something being repaired that you consider "minor" then you should probably just ignore it till it's not minor anymore - then it will be a "major price" for a "major repair" GD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nipper Posted October 30, 2010 Share Posted October 30, 2010 I agree - the shop he took it to is clearly out to make him a "return customer" by only addressing what is wrong right now and not considering the whole situation. On the other hand - he did ask them to fix the leak and sometimes if you don't want to hear bad news you should just keep your head stuck in the sand..... what if they had determined it was the rear main or oil seperator plate?!? If you don't want a nice fat bill for something being repaired that you consider "minor" then you should probably just ignore it till it's not minor anymore - then it will be a "major price" for a "major repair" GD Would 800.00 be enough fro two techs to make their boat payments? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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