Oil Seals Leaking Again!!!!!

[mtnbob]

I have a 97 Outback with a 2.5 motor out of a 96 outback. The motor only has 100,000 miles on it but I have already had to replace the seals once, and now the are leaking again. The engine runs great so I need to fix them, but not sure why the old ones started leaking after only 3-4 months. Anyone have any experience with this?? I hate to keep throwing my money away on seals, and I'm wondering if my mechanic was incompetent or if it is just a subaru problem.

 

Thanks

 

Robert:Flame:

[nipper]

My guess would be cheap seals. Go get the seals yourself from subaru and hand them to the mechanic.

 

There is a chance (very very slim) that there may be grooves worn in the shaft that the seals are sealing against, but i have never heard of this problem on subarus.

 

Also exactly what did he replace/reseal under the hood. Has anything besides seals been replaced.

 

There are the cam seals, the main seal (crank) and the oil pump gets resealed. The Valve cover gaskets have a tendency to come loose and just need to be snugged up sometimes.

 

 

nipper

[mtnbob]

Well I took the car to him yesterday and tried not to be an rump roast but explained that he replaced all of the seals except the rear seal and they are leaking worse than they were before. He didn't seem to think that it was his responsibility since it had been a year even though they started to leak after 3-4 months. He basically told me to clean off the engine and put high mileage oil in it to see if that would swell the seals and help the leaking. He said there was no way to know where it was leaking from unless they cleaned off the motor, put a dye in the oil and used a black light to see where it was leaking. That alone would cost me $50-60. I have a portable black light and am fully capable of buying the dye, so I guess I can figure that out myself. Are the seals hard to replace? I'm planning on working on it myself, taking it off the road for a few weeks and doing the timing belt, struts, front control arm, and a few other things. I'm just not feeling that great about the mechanic right now and wondering if I can muddle through this myself, since I have another car I'm about to get on the road in a week.

[nipper]

My money is on cheap parts. We never see a thread like yours, so your the unluky one. You replace the seals when you do the timing belt.

 

BTW if you are at 100k, and had the seals done and the mechanic did not recomend replacing the timing belt, he was a shmuck. There is your answer. He should have done it while he was there.

 

High mileage oil is BS, its just a sales gimmick, especially since all of a sudden high mileage is 60,000 miles. Thats nothing.

 

If your brave enough to the timing belt yourslef (its not that diffcult just a little tricky) you can do everything else yourself too.

 

nipper

 

here is some reading for you, dont fret about the "specailty tools" as there are work arounds. Seems almost everyone does it themselves.

 

 

http://endwrench.com/images/pdfs/TBeltEWWin05.pdf

 

nipper

[mtnbob]

The mechanic that originally put the engine in my car replaced the timing belt but neglected to do the seals. So I started out with a motor that had only 33,000 miles on it but had sat for 5 years in a wrecked Outback. I choose to go to a different mechanic when the car started leaking oil from the seals. I had all seals replaced except the rear seal, figuring I'd get that done when tranny finally went. Now a little over a year later I have an engine with close to 100,000 miles on it a timing belt with 60,000 on it and oil leaking out pretty badly in the front. I'm not sure exactly where it's coming from until I clean it up and get some dye and a black light. BTW the tranny is still plugging along at over 265,000 miles, so it isn't all bad. But I know it won't last forever

 

P.S. Thank You for the timing belt info. It would seem silly to me not to replace it while i'm in there seeing that it is at 60,000 and has probably been bathed in oil.

[nipper]

The mechanic that originally put the engine in my car replaced the timing belt but neglected to do the seals. So I started out with a motor that had only 33,000 miles on it but had sat for 5 years in a wrecked Outback. I choose to go to a different mechanic when the car started leaking oil from the seals. I had all seals replaced except the rear seal, figuring I'd get that done when tranny finally went. Now a little over a year later I have an engine with close to 100,000 miles on it a timing belt with 60,000 on it and oil leaking out pretty badly in the front. I'm not sure exactly where it's coming from until I clean it up and get some dye and a black light. BTW the tranny is still plugging along at over 265,000 miles, so it isn't all bad. But I know it won't last forever

 

Sure complicate things.....

 

It will be either the oil pump or the main seals. Those are the two that usually throw a lot of oil.

 

As lonng as you dont tow or overwork the engine i dont think these automatice actually wear out. They are happy as long as they get fresh fluid every 30 k.

 

nipper

[mtnbob]

Fresh fluid??? what's that?? I hate to admit it but it was flushed at 90,000 miles to try to fix some minor torque bind and all I've done for the last 170,000 miles is check the fluid and top it off if needed. I guess I should change it too when I'm taking everything else apart:eek:

[moosens]

Historic Forum....what's that????

[mtnbob]

Sorry it seemed historic to me