Oil leak
 

I have a 1992, and I've always had a little oil somewhere under my car, what should I expect for something almost 21 years old? Anyway, recently I started smelling burning oil, so I looked a little harder, and saw what seemed to be a significant amount of oil. The ground was dry where I park though, so all of the leak is being burnt off by the exhaust. My first inclination is the valve cover gaskets. How much is this repair? I have a reputable garage I know that knows the SVX and will do it right. I just want to know how long and how much for parts. Also, 2 and a half years ago, right when I bought the car I had to replace the ENTIRE cooling system, and while the shop had my engine out of my car, I had them replace every rubber gasket that they could reach while the engine was easily reached. I doubt it's something connected directly to the block, but as usual with this car, I'm probably wrong. :p Any likely culprits? I'm just going to carry oil with me and keep filling it up. Between oil changes (3,700 miles) I think I lost close to a half-quart to a quart. Not positive, as the mesurement cup only went to 4 quarts.

Re: Oil leak
 

Hmm. If its hitting your headers, then its most likely a valve cover gasket. First things first. Get a ratchet and socket, and make certain that all the cover bolts are snug. DO NOT torque the piss out of them, just good and snug. Then, get 2 cans of engine de-greaser. Drop your skid plate and take the car to your local self car wash with the high pressure washer. Soak every inch of your engine and front crossmember with the de-greaser. Allow to sit for 10 minutes. Pressure wash off and repeat with can #2. This should clean off your engine and allow you to pinpoint exactly where your leak is coming from if it reoccurs.
If worse comes to worse, valve cover gasket replacement is not that big of a deal. A good afternoon and basic tools will allow you to get the job done.

Re: Oil leak
 

Could also be the rear main seal or the oil separator plate on the back of the engine behind the flywheel. Subaru's updated the design of the separator plate several times because of cracking/leaking issues. It's not an expensive part, but reaching it requires pulling the engine or dropping the tranny.

Re: Oil leak
 

Well I looked under it today. I took it to the car wash and just pressure washed the entire underside of it the other day to get rid of any oil I could. It seems to be wet only in the front. It's dripping into the "bowl" of the plastic cover that attaches to the bumper (can't think of what it's called), and dripping down the oil pan a little. Not that much. It seems idling it releases the most oil.

Re: Oil leak
 

Did you check your oil pressure sensor? It's right behind the power steering reservoir. Mine was leaking pretty bad.

Re: Oil leak
 

No, I'll have to check in the morning.

Re: Oil leak
 

There area a few screws and sensors to check on the top of the engine. But those will be obvious if leaking. Generally by pools of fluids on top of the block.

See if it looks like its coming out of the timing belt cover. If its dripping out of one side or the other, it may be the seal for one of the cam shafts.

Re: Oil leak
 

Check this thread if it helps: http://www.subaru-svx.net/forum/show...419#post710419

Re: Oil leak
 

My 92 with 245 thousand kilometers on it developed a leak that at first glance looks tone a rear main or separater plate leak.
What I found however, was it turned out to be leaking from the air valve seal under the intake manifold (controls airflow inside manifold for high rpm)
Forget the proper name for this device.
It's apparently due to higher than normal blow by (tired engine)
I read about this somewhere but can't remember where.
To temporarily (untill engine rebuild planned soon) solve issue, and yes you can laugh, I used a one quart paint can purched from a paint store and ran pcv vent hose through the can before it went into intake. Then ran drain at bottom of can into crankcase (located under intake, rear middle) I also stuffed can with steel wool. I mounted can on pass side beside throttlebody.
No more leak.
Just something to check.
Cheers

Re: Oil leak
 

Steel wool and engine oil does not sound like a good combo to me. What is the intended purpose?

Glenn

Re: Oil leak
 

So you made an air/oil separator? There shouldn't be enough blow-by in the EG33 to need one. I wonder what could be causing that.