OBW leaking silicone!

[hankosolder2]

Having solved the brake fluid leak (!) I'm now moving on to the next mystery fluid leak. 98 OBW, 5MT, 200+ K miles.

 

The car is dripping spots of what appears to be extremely viscous silicone fluid. The worst concentration is near the front right inner lower A-arm bushings.

 

Are the A-arm bushings or the motor mounts fluid filled? I know some cars have this. I haven't run over any Hooters waitresses lately.

 

Nathan

[GeneralDisorder]

Hhhmmm - some of the early STi mounts were fluid filled - it's possible though I've never seen them on an OBW. . Could be some previous owner upgrade???

 

GD

[hankosolder2]

GD- I doubt it was upgraded, but who knows? It's a 12 year old, 200K mile multi owner car, so things may have occurred. The rest of the suspension is definitely stock, it even had OEM struts until I recently replaced them. I asked Dr. Google and supposedly some Foresters also had fluid filled A-arm bushings, so Subaru doesn't reserve them exclusively for hi-po applications. I'll probably just order an OEM bushing and install whatever they send me- I can't imagine an empty fluid filled bushing is going to perform properly.

 

Nathan

 

Oh, I see you were saying that the WRXes had fluid filled motor mounts, not A-arm bushings. I'll just give a good inspection- should be able to tell where it's leaking from with a bit of inspection.

Edited November 4, 2010 by hankosolder2

[Fairtax4me]

94 to 05 legacy use fluid filled transverse link bushings. They ooze grey grease-like fluid when they go bad.

Wanna say that Imprezas used the same part too. Outbacks might have been slightly different (due to the raised ride height) but I've seen one in the junkyard oozing the same grey goo.

[hankosolder2]

Thanks! Good to know I'm not the only one with an oozing outback.