leaky svx
 

Hi people, im new here, and have just become the proud owner of my first svx, now ive got some problems on the car, first of all i should mention the cars been stood for best part of 4 years, and its dripping oil out of the cam covers ect, which im going to replace the seals on, but also, after i had the car running and on the road for about 5 miles, when i got home, there was water dripping out of the cam belt covers,i was pondering if it was the water pump,poss seals had been damaged by rust from being stood so long then used again, but im not even sure if its behind the cover, any ideas where it could be coming from, is there a core plug or anything behind the centre cover?, the cars running real nice, no over heating or pressure, or any signs of mixing with oil, just a steady drip of coolant, any help would be appreciated as I havnt had anything to do with these engines before.:(

First of all, questions of this nature belong in the 'Tech Q&A' forum. :)

I'd be worried about the water pump or a head gasket. As for 'rust' causing it, the block, heads and water pump are all aluminum, so I don't think that's it. :p

Your oil leak could be a cam seal or the front main seal. Both are pretty labor-intensive to repair.

The oil leak doesn't worry me (because almost all of thee cars leak a little oil these days), but the coolant leak does. I'd get that looked at right away.

Oh, and welcome to the site - I hope your SVX gives you years of faithful service and that you enjoy every mile. :)

the pump seals could be damaged tho if any rubbish had built up around in in the years it was stood, but anyway, the oil is coming out towards the back of the cam covers, and dripping on the back of the exhaust, but doesnt seem to be dripping from anywhere else, other than the headgasket tho, from your knowledge, is there anywhere else the water could be coming from, its coming from behind the centre plastic cam belt cover? its only a small drip, and only does it when the cars running, doesnt drip when the engine is cold.

I've never seen or heard of such a thing, so no, I don't know where it would be coming from.

The pump is just off to the left side of the engine, and I suppose the gasket could be leaking. If the car sat for that long, anything's possible.

I would get it checked out right away, though. An oil leak I don't worry about because I see them all the time. In my mind a coolant leak, which is far less common, is more serious. :)

turns out that my cars water pump is the cause of the leak, do any of you guys know if any ohther subaru water pumps fit the svx, legacy or impreza, as none of my local parts dealers list parts for svx due to them being uncommon, and i dont really want to have to go to subaru as its going to be expensive, any help would be appreciated as i want to get my baby back on the road:)

I'm not certain, but do suspect the SVX water pump is unique.

dcb

Since the EG33 is completely unique in the Subaru engine line-up, I would guess that the water pump is unique as well. It's possible (and even likely) that it's very similar to other Subaur water pumps, but I would guess that there are at least small differences.

It's not surprising to me that your auto parts stores don't carry water pumps for the car. Since only 14,000 SVXs came to the US, it doesn't pay for an aftermarket company to manufacture or rebuild parts for them.

SubaruParts.com lists the pump for $82.51. Not bad.

http://www.subaruparts.com/diag/?mod...category=035-A

cheers , only prob is im in the UK tho mate.

I knew that. :D

Oops.

So I suppose that international shipping would sorta negate the online savings...

Dunno what to tell you, man.

oil leaks
 

Check your valve cover gaskets. All 3 of my subaru engines developed leaky gaskets after about ten years. On the SVX a leaking valve cover gasket will mock a cam seal leak but stops just short of entering the sealed timing belt cover. The rubber gets brittle and seemed to have shrunk a tad. There's no substitute for laying on your back under the car, and if you don't know yet the belly pan comes off easily to expose the belly of the beast. :D

Have you gotten a quote on the water pump? When I replace mine, my cost was about US$ 120. Not a whole lot more than a non-SVX pump

Im going to just have to get one from subaru I think, its defo got to be changed tho as its rumbeling, bearings are shot, cheers for the advise lads.

Ive just been on th phone to my local subaru main agent, they tell me that the svx has 3 kinds of water pumps and that they cannot get the one for my car, I think this sounds like a load of rubbish, what do you lads recon?, is there 3 kinds?

Go to www.subaruparts.com and check it out.

Load of rubbish sounds about right. Any idea what "slow-boat" freight to the UK would be if you ordered from a U.S. outlet?

dcb