oil leak, drivers side, front of engine

[carbonBLUE]

Tried searching but nothing came up.
Car currently has about 50k miles. Bought 5/28/12 . Was checking the oil levels during a routine check and noticed an oil leak on the front of the engine. Engine was pretty dirty so i cleaned off the area. Seems less than a 1/4 of a quart has leaked from my engine. I was posting in case anyone has come across this problem yet. So i could start narrowing down the problem

Coolant has no traces of oil. Oil was nearing the end of its life and is due for a change in the morning.

Also i have had no previous record of engine burning oil so the quantaty of oil lost is definatly from the unknown origin or the leak. No oil dripping where i park the car.

How i drive my car: i drive briskly, with more attention to handling than speed. I pretty much mean i like to go around corner just to feel the g forces. I may hit redline a couple times during my commute but usually just while emtering a freeway to get up to the speed of traffic from the service streets. Most of my road carving i dont exceed 5k rpms on the back roads.

[buckets]

this maybe?
http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=45097

[samisons]

http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showt...78#post1617278
I had oil leaking from the bottom of the passenger side timing chain cover.

[choi0706]

Originally Posted by carbonBLUE

Tried searching but nothing came up.
Car currently has about 50k miles. Bought 5/28/12 . Was checking the oil levels during a routine check and noticed an oil leak on the front of the engine. Engine was pretty dirty so i cleaned off the area. Seems less than a 1/4 of a quart has leaked from my engine. I was posting in case anyone has come across this problem yet. So i could start narrowing down the problem

Coolant has no traces of oil. Oil was nearing the end of its life and is due for a change in the morning.

Also i have had no previous record of engine burning oil so the quantaty of oil lost is definatly from the unknown origin or the leak. No oil dripping where i park the car.

How i drive my car: i drive briskly, with more attention to handling than speed. I pretty much mean i like to go around corner just to feel the g forces. I may hit redline a couple times during my commute but usually just while emtering a freeway to get up to the speed of traffic from the service streets. Most of my road carving i dont exceed 5k rpms on the back roads.

got the same leak.. comes from the timing chain area between the head/ cam carrier.. engine has got to come out to repair.. you can try your luck with it covered under warranty.. I was told they dont cover it unless its a leak in your driveway or visible..

[strat61caster]

Originally Posted by buckets

this maybe?
http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=45097

Unlikely since that is on the right side back of the engine, OP specified finding oil on the front of the engine.


It seems like there have been a handful of instances with the sealant between the block and the covers (cam & timing chain) not holding, see link in a previous post. All you can really do is take it to the dealer and hope they're feeling generous, you're still under the 60k mile powertrain warranty, it shouldn't be leaking but I'm sure they'll do their best to avoid the work.

Edit: That is if you can show there's a leak, by your description all you've found is some oil. Burning/loosing <1/4 of a quart over 7,500 miles may not be a cause for concern, we don't know yet since you're probably in the top 5% of high mileage cars.

[carbonBLUE]

Originally Posted by strat61caster

Unlikely since that is on the right side back of the engine, OP specified finding oil on the front of the engine.


It seems like there have been a handful of instances with the sealant between the block and the covers (cam & timing chain) not holding, see link in a previous post. All you can really do is take it to the dealer and hope they're feeling generous, you're still under the 60k mile powertrain warranty, it shouldn't be leaking but I'm sure they'll do their best to avoid the work.

Edit: That is if you can show there's a leak, by your description all you've found is some oil. Burning/loosing <1/4 of a quart over 7,500 miles may not be a cause for concern, we don't know yet since you're probably in the top 5% of high mileage cars.

yeah its definitely leaking from somewhere i see traces of new oil

this is a rough outline of where i saw oil on the engine block before i cleaned it yesterday



another picture for reference




EDIT: also maybe my oil filter is leaking and going down the drain. will see if i continue to see the leak after i do my oil change and put a new filter on there

[bjun]

I have the same leak right now!!!
It's not a major leak but I'm starting to get paranoid

[carbonBLUE]

Originally Posted by bjun

I have the same leak right now!!!
It's not a major leak but I'm starting to get paranoid

are you using OEM oil filters?
How many miles since the last oil change?

[bjun]

Yes I use OEM oil filter. I have 4k mile since last oil change. Going to do oil change after 1k mile...I'll upload a pic of mine in few mins

[bjun]

Is yours like this CarbonBlue?
My car has no problems so far...I redline everytime I drive, and I'm boosted as well

[carbonBLUE]

Originally Posted by bjun

Is yours like this CarbonBlue?
My car has no problems so far...I redline everytime I drive, and I'm boosted as well

kind of, the entire area i highlighted was covered in oil. I have no idea what it looked like in previous weeks. I still have stock intake and it covers most of that area, not to mention its not well lit, so i may have accidentally overlooked it for some time now.

I wouldn't rule out that the oil leak we have is unrelated just yet

do you ever smell burning oil? i don't

I don't think it leaks enough to form droplets that find its way to the exhaust manifold.

[stugray]

Clean engine well.
Add this

http://www.oreillyauto.com/site/c/de...2323&ppt=C0014

Take pictures and go to the dealer.

[carbonBLUE]

Originally Posted by stugray

Clean engine well.
Add this

http://www.oreillyauto.com/site/c/de...2323&ppt=C0014

Take pictures and go to the dealer.

I personally don't want to leave my car with the dealer, I would much rather have a subaru tech working on my car vs a toyota tech

sunday i think ill try this , cleaning the engine in tight spaces is a pain though. no room to see what my hands are doing :/

[bjun]

Originally Posted by carbonBLUE

kind of, the entire area i highlighted was covered in oil. I have no idea what it looked like in previous weeks. I still have stock intake and it covers most of that area, not to mention its not well lit, so i may have accidentally overlooked it for some time now.

I wouldn't rule out that the oil leak we have is unrelated just yet

do you ever smell burning oil? i don't

I don't think it leaks enough to form droplets that find its way to the exhaust manifold.

I don't smell oil either. I don't think it's droplets either. Very very small amount so it makes a soot-like texture
I don't have warranty since I am FI'ed, so I don't know what to do -.-
maybe take it apart I suppose...