Massive smoke and oil leak.

Check the connections from the power steering lines to your steering rack. Also check the back of the motor where it bolts to the tranny/front diff assembly just in case the rear crank seal is leaking, and check your axle seals where the halfshafts join the front diff. CV boots would be obvious.

I just resealed my tranny pan... didn't have a gasket so we did the pink silicone goo trick. It fixed 90% of my leaking... the other 10 is cam seals. That's the next ordeal.

[DavieGravy]

The mechanic thinks it's the transmission, but he said they're having trouble pin-pointing the leak. They're going to put some dye in it to see.

Make sure you remind them that the power steering system also uses Dexron ATF... if they're looking at the color of the fluid it will tell them nothing about whether it is the tranny or the steering rack based on the color... it's all red.

Subarus can be confusing for the average shop because most typical cars don't use ATF in the power steering system.

[DavieGravy]

Originally posted by Porter
Make sure you remind them that the power steering system also uses Dexron ATF... if they're looking at the color of the fluid it will tell them nothing about whether it is the tranny or the steering rack based on the color... it's all red.

Subarus can be confusing for the average shop because most typical cars don't use ATF in the power steering system.

Thanks for the advice. Fortunately, this is an independent Subaru shop so hopefully they know that. Although one thing I pointed out to him was that there seemed to be a fresh oil (ATF?) stain on the oil pan, which if I'm not mistaken sits below the power steering pump. However, I'm not sure if that really meant anything to him.

One thing that sucks, though, is it's $75 to do this dye test.

[SVXRide]

Here's a cheaper way -
Put car up on rack
Let engine cool and spray everything underneath with brake cleaning spray
Let dry
Start car up and run through gears and turn the steering wheel lock to lock several times
Look for leaks
($75 for a dye check? )

[DavieGravy]

Yeah, they want to clean it as well. I don't know why they can't do what you just suggested though and why the dye check is so damn expensive. I guess this is what you get when you know squat about cars.

[DavieGravy]

Well, they put dye in both the power steering and the trans and haven't found any significant leaks. His guess was that I overfilled the power steering resevoir, which I did slightly, and it seeped out. The funny thing is though that it was smoking before I did this. So now, after $75, I'm back at square one. And I also bet that when I pick the car up, it'll smoke like hell on the way back.

The mechanic said he drove it extensively on the rack and on the street.

The $75 was basically for his time, not for the repair. The key is to pressure wash the bottom of the motor after spraying it with brake cleaner and/or Simple Green to degrease it... once you get all the old grime off, it will be easy to see where the leaks are coming from. No dye needed! Just look for the wet spots.

I had a pretty major leak from a tiny pinhole leak in my power steering pressure hose. I actually thought it was the tranny because the tranny was always wet, but it turned out the little bastard was spraying ATF out of the hose only when turning, and it was spraying right onto the side of the tranny... running down, and making us think the tranny had some major leak. Pretty funny in retrospect, but I almost pulled my hair out at the time.

Anyway, best of luck to you. Get someone to put the car in the air once the motor is clean, run the engine at idle and turn the wheel back and forth to check the rack and hoses for "active" leaks.

[DavieGravy]

Thanks for the advice Porter. The bottom of the car is clean now, although I suspect I'm having the same problem you were as the fluid appeared to be running down the side of the tranny. Although upon getting the car back, it hasn't smoked at all. But that pressure hose will be the first thing to get replaced if it starts smoking again.

[NomadTW]

my front diff dipstick blew out a while back

the faster the car went the more oil sprayed out

but my dipstick was completely gone

i plugged up the hole that the dipstick went in and now that all the gear oil has burnt off the exhaust the smoking has stopped

deffinately replace that O ring while you still have the dipstick

i lost the stick entire and it increased the cost to fix by 15 times plus the cost of the bottle of gear oil and a long necked funnel

check at the front diff dipstick and then wipe everything down lift it up and watch underneat

[Motorsport-SVX]

it was my Power steering return hose.....
about $13 from the dealer.....and about 9"
long....

Sorry.....wish I had seen the post earlier !!!


6 months later, I changed the main $140 pressure line....
much harder.....

[DavieGravy]

I'll consider both of those. Thanks.

[Motorsport-SVX]

Ive had about 5 Svxs so far, and it seems everyone over 80k
miles gets the dreaded pinhole in the small Power Steering
return hose located behind the engine on the Pass Side back
by the firewall.

(ie this exact problem on this thread)

While taking apart a motor project Im working on, I thought Id take a Good pic of where the hose sits and what it looks like.
Save the pic, go check it out on your car soon, its hard to see with the engine actually in the car, but youll see it.
Cost about $15 from the dealer and if you change it before it starts to leak it can save you the James Bond smoke screen effect and wasted $$ on taking it somewhere to get fixed after hours or something....bravo

[DavieGravy]

Thanks very much for taking that pic! I'll order the part tomorrow as that's probably what's leaking.

Is this hose hard to get to or replace? For instance, do I need to remove anything?

[Motorsport-SVX]

Originally posted by DavieGravy
Thanks very much for taking that pic! I'll order the part tomorrow as that's probably what's leaking.

Is this hose hard to get to or replace? For instance, do I need to remove anything?

Just all you need is a small nut driver or screwdriver
to loosen the old clamps. I took out the stock air tube
to be able to get in there a little better, its down pretty
far and outta the way. I actually ended up using a utility knife
to cut it in half and then removed it in 2 pcs's.
Slid on the new hose, tightened the clamps and was done.
Good luck