Oil leak problem, possible seal issue from repair?

[tintumz22]

So, today after coming home from work, opened the hood just to check oil levels and of other fluids, after checking around engine saw like droplet of oil behind the driver side engine. Out of curiousity, I wanted know where could that oil came from, lookinh down saw an accumulation of dust but looks wet like mix of oil. So now i'm worried, I jacked up the car and took off the underside engine cover. Just to see this


It is not actively leaking. but looking around it looks like there is a leak for a longest time. I did not feel any performance issues or burnt oil smell since the repair back in 2012. So oil changes were done timely and oil levels through the next oil change, only topped off once and with little amount only. Could this be a seal issue? Had the CEL issue of cam where they opened up the engine back in 2012 when i bought the car. Oil levels in between oil change did not gave a sign of leak. So I was surprised seeing this.

I have an aftermarket tune currently on the car. Do i need to revert back to stock tune before taking it in to the dealer? Thanks for reading and sharing help.


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[Djratrap]

I don't believe i've had an oil leak(to my knowledge), but there is a big underlying issue with our engines and oil starvation. I don't think certain parts of the engine/cams are getting enough oil. I know it has something to do with the vvti part of the sprocket. I've taken my vehicle to the dealer at least 5 times for this issue.

I would def return the car to stock tune before taking it to the dealer. However, any decent mechanic will know whether it has been tuned due to the ecu log (even if returned to stock/erased). Hopefully they won't notice it. Either way i'd take care of it before it becomes a bigger issue. I hope that no one has to go through the nightmare I've gone through with my car (unfortunately quite a few have).

[tintumz22]

Originally Posted by Djratrap

I don't believe i've had an oil leak(to my knowledge), but there is a big underlying issue with our engines and oil starvation. I don't think certain parts of the engine/cams are getting enough oil. I know it has something to do with the vvti part of the sprocket. I've taken my vehicle to the dealer at least 5 times for this issue.

I would def return the car to stock tune before taking it to the dealer. However, any decent mechanic will know whether it has been tuned due to the ecu log (even if returned to stock/erased). Hopefully they won't notice it. Either way i'd take care of it before it becomes a bigger issue. I hope that no one has to go through the nightmare I've gone through with my car (unfortunately quite a few have).

It's just surprising that the car ran fine since that issue was repaired. I know the front part was opened and put back in placed. The back part and lower driver side of engine is where i see those oil. But it's and have read a lot about the issue i had but this is something new.

Drivetrain warranty is 60000 miles? Hopefully it does still cover it.


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[Djratrap]

Originally Posted by tintumz22

It's just surprising that the car ran fine since that issue was repaired. I know the front part was opened and put back in placed. The back part and lower driver side of engine is where i see those oil. But it's and have read a lot about the issue i had but this is something new.

Drivetrain warranty is 60000 miles? Hopefully it does still cover it.


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This is a tricky issue. For my vehicle I've replaced oil seals, oil valve, cam sprockets, and the ecu on multiple occasions. Technically it wasn't covered by the power-train ( which really pissed me off). I also had no warning signs, it would just happen at random mileage intervals (10k-20k). The only thing that saved my ass is that i had the first CEL engine at 33k-ish. Because this is a reoccurring issue Subaru corporate has acknowledged the situation and will continue to repair this issue/related issues for the life of the vehicle. It still doesn't give me a big piece of mind as i wanted to supercharge my vehicle (not happening now) and i'm essentially waiting for the grenade to go off again.

[tintumz22]

Originally Posted by Djratrap

This is a tricky issue. For my vehicle I've replaced oil seals, oil valve, cam sprockets, and the ecu on multiple occasions. Technically it wasn't covered by the power-train ( which really pissed me off). I also had no warning signs, it would just happen at random mileage intervals (10k-20k). The only thing that saved my ass is that i had the first CEL engine at 33k-ish. Because this is a reoccurring issue Subaru corporate has acknowledged the situation and will continue to repair this issue/related issues for the life of the vehicle. It still doesn't give me a big piece of mind as i wanted to supercharge my vehicle (not happening now) and i'm essentially waiting for the grenade to go off again.

That is really holding you off to that supercharger. Will not happen now due to that reoccurring issue? sorry to hear that!

Hopefully, my issue is still related to that seals/repairs that they did.

[Djratrap]

Originally Posted by tintumz22

That is really holding you off to that supercharger. Will not happen now due to that reoccurring issue? sorry to hear that!

Hopefully, my issue is still related to that seals/repairs that they did.

Yeah unfortunately, this is my daily. And i don't want to do anything that will void my free cam/oil valve repair on the vehicle. A supercharger will just give them a reason.

Sooner or later i won't care and say f#ck it, but for the time being car is staying mostly "stock."

[tintumz22]

Originally Posted by Djratrap

Yeah unfortunately, this is my daily. And i don't want to do anything that will void my free cam/oil valve repair on the vehicle. A supercharger will just give them a reason.

Sooner or later i won't care and say f#ck it, but for the time being car is staying mostly "stock."

I hear you. Same boat. This is my daily and this kind of stuff is a headache. Holding off from all those mods tip i get a beater or 2nd car.

[Djratrap]

2k miles later the exact engine code is back, this will be my 4th or 5th time (on record) for this warranty issue. Subaru needs to hurry up and replace my engine already. This is getting REALLY annoying.

[Speed2th]

I had similar situation on my 13 toyota prius. I took it to dealer and they found it was headgasket defect caused small external oil leak. they replaced the headgasket under powertrain warranty (my car was at 56k miles). They even gave me a free rental car.

[FirestormFRS]

Originally Posted by tintumz22

So, today after coming home from work, opened the hood just to check oil levels and of other fluids, after checking around engine saw like droplet of oil behind the driver side engine. Out of curiousity, I wanted know where could that oil came from, lookinh down saw an accumulation of dust but looks wet like mix of oil. So now i'm worried, I jacked up the car and took off the underside engine cover. Just to see this


It is not actively leaking. but looking around it looks like there is a leak for a longest time. I did not feel any performance issues or burnt oil smell since the repair back in 2012. So oil changes were done timely and oil levels through the next oil change, only topped off once and with little amount only. Could this be a seal issue? Had the CEL issue of cam where they opened up the engine back in 2012 when i bought the car. Oil levels in between oil change did not gave a sign of leak. So I was surprised seeing this.

I have an aftermarket tune currently on the car. Do i need to revert back to stock tune before taking it in to the dealer? Thanks for reading and sharing help.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Looks like a head cover gasket is or has leaked at some point. You can take the pictures to the dealer service guy and have him schedule you a repair if it's covered under warranty. If not I wouldn't worry about it if its not actively leaking and your not losing oil. My $.02.

[Koa]

Originally Posted by Djratrap

2k miles later the exact engine code is back, this will be my 4th or 5th time (on record) for this warranty issue. Subaru needs to hurry up and replace my engine already. This is getting REALLY annoying.

By the way there is no "ECU flash log". Dealers and technicians can't link back a flashed-back-to-stock tune. Sorry about your issues.. Just trying to stop the flow of misinformation

[Djratrap]

Originally Posted by Koa

By the way there is no "ECU flash log". Dealers and technicians can't link back a flashed-back-to-stock tune. Sorry about your issues.. Just trying to stop the flow of misinformation

There's no "flash log" per say, but a good technician will be able to notice discrepancies in the ecu depending on how long you wait before you take your car to the dealer after flashing back to stock. Happens all the time at buddies dealership. People flash back to stock, but don't allow the ecu to relearn and voids warranty service.

[Koa]

Originally Posted by Djratrap

There's no "flash log" per say, but a good technician will be able to notice discrepancies in the ecu depending on how long you wait before you take your car to the dealer after flashing back to stock. Happens all the time at buddies dealership. People flash back to stock, but don't allow the ecu to relearn and voids warranty service.

Given that trim re-learning takes only a few minutes in each bucket, I don't think that's going to be a huge problem if the person isn't an idiot.

Still, let's not go around spreading disinformation about ecu flash logs is my point.