This sounds familiar. I recently went though something like this.

About a week ago I had my oil changed at Jiffy Lube. I had them use a genuine Subaru filter and crush washer, thinking this should avoid any problems with leaks. Everything went smoothly. (I thought!)

The next day I noticed a pool of fluid under the front of the car. It had soaked into the asphalt so I couldn't really tell what it was, but I assumed it was oil. The oil & other fluid levels were fine. Just to be sure I drove back to Jiffy Lube to have them look at the underside. Now, the guy who did the oil change remembers that he had to change the oil drain plug and that the car had a pronounced cam seal leak at the right front! (This was a surprize because it was clean with no leaks about 2 weeks before.)

Anyway, they said it was okay to drive, "just keep checking the oil" and have it looked at by a mechanic. Anyway, I kept noticing the drips of fluid under the car after parking it overnight. The fluid levels were still fine, but power steering level is just a little low.

So I top it up and drive to work & notice when I stop at stoplights a very strong chemical smell & wisps of white smoke coming from the engine compartment. I get to work and check the powering steering fluid again & the reservoir is little low. I could see no obvious leaks but did notice some burned fluid under and behind the power steering pump on the top of the block.

I'm thinking this has to be the famous power steering O ring, so I top up the reservoir & drive to the dealer of an O ring. (By the way, this 5 cent part is now $2.49!). I replaced the O ring as mentioned in the "How to" section. I fill up the reservoir and start up the car.

With the engine running, I decided to look for any leaks & notice that power steering fluid is running out of the underside of the power steering pump. It turns out that the high pressure line out of the pump had come loose (not the return line to the reservoir). I tightened the fitting and the leak stopped.

Now I've driven the car back to work and it seems that the problem is solved. I suspect that a loose fitting on the powering steering pump may have been my problem all along. (The old O ring was actually intact still but hard.) Anyway, to people doing the O ring fix, make sure you check the fittings on the power steering pump for tightness!

Any suggestions for cleaning the burnt fluid from the top of the engine? Can I powerwash the engine??