deks69 Posted June 6, 2007 Share Posted June 6, 2007 Hi, new to the board, love this board, never needed to post till now. Ok, I just got a 1998 Subaru Legacy GT. It's got the 2.5, it has 88k on it. Manual trans. I flew out to VA from MN to get it, as it was the best bang for my buck price, all the features, and mint body condition, and even after the drive and flight with what I wanted in the car it was better priced than anywhere around my area. Seems like a great car so far. Slight problems have surfaced. It's Leaking oil somewhere. I can smell it, and it goes through about a 1/2 pint every 200 miles or so. (so not real bad) I did (on the drive home) develope a big leak that I had fixed. That was due to a crank seal, and oil pump seal. Took care of the problem at least the rest of the drive home. I can still smell oil though, should have burnt off if it wasnt leaking anymore by now. So I think its still leaking somewhere. The smell seems to be coming more towards the middle of the car not towards the front like the first leak. Any Ideas on where to look? Also I notice the right catalitic converter under the A/C drain hose smokes at a bolt on the right side of it. It doesnt smell like oil. I thought it was steam for the A/C drip but notice it does it regaurdless. I dont think its an exhaust leak, because It just has no oder. Lastly, some times in the morning, I take off, mostly after just letting the car Idle a minute or so, I will be driving and I will loose most of the power so I pull over look under the hood and its not running on all cylinders. All I have to do shut off the car and restart it and its fine. This has happened a twice in 2000 miles I've put on the car since purchasing it. The check engine light came on around 400 miles on the drive home, but I figured it was from the oil leak. Or ussally it's just emissions, but the other day it started blinking for a few seconds and went back to steady. It was not in the "alarm you" sequence where the ABS and other things flash and beep. One more thing, says under the hood, it has a security system. But All I have is a fob with lock or unlock that doesnt work. Where do I look for that componant, to see if its the fob or the system. Thanks alot. Sorry if this was long winded, but I want to get some advice before I bring it into my local garage where Im sure they havent worked on to many subarus. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msmithmmx Posted June 6, 2007 Share Posted June 6, 2007 The way you described that leak and you mentioned the "catalitic converter" you have a leak at the rear main seal or the oil separator plate. To fix both the engine has got to come out. My guess is the oil separator plate, the old ones are plastic, Subaru now makes them out of metal. When I pulled my 2.5 out it was leaking BAD, all over the O2 sensor. I would do what the smart people on this board do, dump the 2.5 and get yourself a 2.2. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nipper Posted June 6, 2007 Share Posted June 6, 2007 You should replace all the seals and the timing balet in one fell swoop. Give the car a tuneup too, and have someone read the codes. This may be a painful hit in the walet, but do it once and your good for 100,000 miles. Before you take the car to the mechanic, take it to a doityourself car wash and wash underneath the car. This will help the mechanic identify the source of leaks. nipper Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Finsol Posted June 6, 2007 Share Posted June 6, 2007 I would do what the smart people on this board do, dump the 2.5 and get yourself a 2.2. So you're saying the 2.2 is much more reliable a motor than the 2.5? I've known about the 2.5's head gasket problems but didn't know the 2.5 was really that bad of a motor. Either way I'm glad I have my 2.2 heh. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nipper Posted June 6, 2007 Share Posted June 6, 2007 So you're saying the 2.2 is much more reliable a motor than the 2.5? I've known about the 2.5's head gasket problems but didn't know the 2.5 was really that bad of a motor. Either way I'm glad I have my 2.2 heh. It's not that bad a motor. If you follow some peoples logic (blown HG), then by the same measure subaru makes the worst awd system in the world. (just as many TB threads as HG threads). There are many many many more people on this list with perfectly good 2.5L with over 200,000 miles on them. They are strong powerful engines, especially the DOHC engines. The 2.2 is a good strong engine, but i think the 2.5 is more fun. i have owned both. nipper Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Finsol Posted June 6, 2007 Share Posted June 6, 2007 It's not that bad a motor. If you follow some peoples logic (blown HG), then by the same measure subaru makes the worst awd system in the world. (just as many TB threads as HG threads). There are many many many more people on this list with perfectly good 2.5L with over 200,000 miles on them. They are strong powerful engines, especially the DOHC engines. The 2.2 is a good strong engine, but i think the 2.5 is more fun. i have owned both. nipper Really good to know. I'll be replacing my motor with the 2.5lt motor once my 2.2 bites the dust so I need to start polishing up on my 2.5l knowledge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idosubaru Posted June 6, 2007 Share Posted June 6, 2007 I would do what the smart people on this board do, dump the 2.5 and get yourself a 2.2. removing a good motor is nonsense. his motor doesn't have any problems? anyway, you need to narrow down the oil leak, internet is hard enough, there's alot of experience and knowledge here, but there's not much we can tell you. there are a number of possible leakage points...cam seals, valve cover gaskets, spark plug gaskets, and rear main seal or rear separator cover...if the passengers and/or drivers side of the engine is wet/dirty with oil underneath, then it's likely the valve cover gaskets, they are prone to leak and brittle now that they're 10 years old. clean off the underside of the engine if it's too hard to tell. check all your fluids and make sure nothing is getting dangerously low. hmmmm, you didn't buy this close to DC did you? if so i was probalby looking at it as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
outbackusjunkus Posted June 6, 2007 Share Posted June 6, 2007 You should consider doing the head gaskets while the engine is out for the updated seperator plate...I don't know if it's the extreme weather we get here but everyone I know in MN that has a 2.5 has done head gaskets at least once. Just a thought... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OB99W Posted June 7, 2007 Share Posted June 7, 2007 [...]Lastly, some times in the morning, I take off, mostly after just letting the car Idle a minute or so, I will be driving and I will loose most of the power so I pull over look under the hood and its not running on all cylinders.[...] If it's cylinder #1 that's not firing, the following might apply: http://endwrench.com/current/spring04pdfs/InsiderInfo.pdf . See the last section (concerning the IAC) on page 3. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deks69 Posted June 11, 2007 Author Share Posted June 11, 2007 Ok, no offence but telling my to dump my perfectly good 2.5 for a 2.2 is ridicules. Not everyone with a 2.5 has/had bad luck with it. I get a kick out of people complaining “HG went out at 200k, Subaru is Junk!” what a joke. I mean come on, I don’t expect most cars to make it over 150k for anything. The engine runs great, as far as a small, slight oil leek, the thing is mint. Swapping engines would only make sense if my engine was toasted. Yes the HG's are a problem, but I will address that when or if it breaks. I will get my moneys worth out of this engine, before I’d even think about replacing it. Again that isn’t oil on my catalytic converter, It has no smell that I can recognize. I see no noticeable leaks towards the back of the engine. I doubt I would even pull the engine to fix the leak if it was there, as it’s so small. I can live with it. The check engine light went off on its own. Dont know what the deal is with that. And I haven’t had 1 single miss fire problem since my last post. I dont even know if I should bring it into the shop tomorrow, but since it seems to have a slow oil leak I am planning on it. Just because the can put it up on the rack. What about those stop leak oil treatment stuff? Do they cause more harm than good? That might stop the small leak. I got the car in DC, at Maxiumdeals. If you where looking at the car, then you know how good of shape it was in. The engine other then these minor problems, seems to be in tip top shape (knock on wood). And all the tune up stuff was already done when I bought it. Is it just me or are these 2.5's sluggish and slow? My 02 ford escort, SOC 2.3 seems just a little slower and thats an auto. I guess I was expecting more out of the engine. I know it's not intended to be fast, but should have a lot more get up and go, then the small ford 4 cylinders. Anyway, thank you all for your advise. I will see what they tell me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nipper Posted June 11, 2007 Share Posted June 11, 2007 Ok, no offence but telling my to dump my perfectly good 2.5 for a 2.2 is ridicules. Not everyone with a 2.5 has/had bad luck with it. I get a kick out of people complaining “HG went out at 200k, Subaru is Junk!” what a joke. I mean come on, I don’t expect most cars to make it over 150k for anything. The engine runs great, as far as a small, slight oil leek, the thing is mint. Swapping engines would only make sense if my engine was toasted. Yes the HG's are a problem, but I will address that when or if it breaks. I will get my moneys worth out of this engine, before I’d even think about replacing it. Again that isn’t oil on my catalytic converter, It has no smell that I can recognize. I see no noticeable leaks towards the back of the engine. I doubt I would even pull the engine to fix the leak if it was there, as it’s so small. I can live with it. The check engine light went off on its own. Dont know what the deal is with that. And I haven’t had 1 single miss fire problem since my last post. I dont even know if I should bring it into the shop tomorrow, but since it seems to have a slow oil leak I am planning on it. Just because the can put it up on the rack. What about those stop leak oil treatment stuff? Do they cause more harm than good? That might stop the small leak. I got the car in DC, at Maxiumdeals. If you where looking at the car, then you know how good of shape it was in. The engine other then these minor problems, seems to be in tip top shape (knock on wood). And all the tune up stuff was already done when I bought it. Is it just me or are these 2.5's sluggish and slow? My 02 ford escort, SOC 2.3 seems just a little slower and thats an auto. I guess I was expecting more out of the engine. I know it's not intended to be fast, but should have a lot more get up and go, then the small ford 4 cylinders. Anyway, thank you all for your advise. I will see what they tell me. Odd i think the 2.5 is pretty good once it gets off the line. Also remember the ford was Not AWD. You have two drive trains to move, not just one. Thats eats up alot of power. Also the escort is lighter. Its comparing apples an oranges. The most common simple cause for an oil leak is a loose valve cover. The stop leak stuff only works on gaskets that do not seal against anything that rotates. Get the codes read, see what comes up. The problem with subaru oil leaks is that they drip on the exhaust pipes and that smoke gets pulled into the cabin by the HVAC (or anything else that leaks on them for that matter). Another possible leak is power steering fluid. nipper Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deks69 Posted June 12, 2007 Author Share Posted June 12, 2007 The Check engine light came back on, and after about 20 minutes of driving it blinked at me a few times. I will get the codes read and find out, I missed my appointment with the local garage so hopefully they can fit me in and find out what is causing all this. I understand the 2.5 has a lot more overhead on it, but the ford 4 popper is one of the weakest engines I've ever had. So I was expecting more off the line from the 2.5. But your right after it gets up to highway speeds it seems pretty peppy, I cant beleave people pull small trailers and boats with this engine though. No wonder they have problems. I just dont think that engine should be used for towing. I will let you all know how I far with the mechanic. I used to own a 2004 WRX, and was wondering when this 2.5 dies, how hard is it to put in the 2.0 turbo? And what year would bolt right in? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deks69 Posted June 14, 2007 Author Share Posted June 14, 2007 Well the mechnic said there is a missfire on cyclender one, due to he thinks is someone tried to tune it up and used the wrong size plug wires. They where pulled tight as hell, noticed that myself. As far as the oil leak, it looks like the rear seal. It's not leaking bad enough for me to put that kind of money into it at this point. Again does that stop leak stuff work? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idosubaru Posted June 14, 2007 Share Posted June 14, 2007 use NGK plugs and Subaru only on the wires. that's probably a problem as well. that will 95%..or some high number, of the time solve the problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deks69 Posted June 20, 2007 Author Share Posted June 20, 2007 use NGK plugs and Subaru only on the wires. that's probably a problem as well. that will 95%..or some high number, of the time solve the problem. Are Car NGK plugs better then ones for ATV's, Dirt bikes and snowmobiles? I quit using them. In the last few years I dont know if its quality control but most NGK's I've put in my toys where crap. Not as bad as champion, (where I've acutally had the seloniod fall out of the plug into my cylinder! As far as the NGK's they seem to last me about 40 hrs of riding and then they are junk. (fowling out, weak spark, or D.O.A etc.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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