Subaru oil leak

[WozzA]

Lately I've been smelling oil coming from my wife's 10 year old 2013 Subaru XV ..   
I couldn't find any leaks so when it was time for it's 56 thousand Kms service ( yes only 56K in 10 years )
I informed the dealer to check it out..
He came back to me stating it had a TIMING COVER leak & would take 2 days & cost $3,000 to pull the engine out to repair the leak..   I told them that we had no problems with the car PRIOR to them recalling it for a valve spring recall which I suspect is when the leak started.. They contacted Subaru Aus who will go 1/2ies in the cost...
Check out the sealant oozing from the cover...  whats your opinion?


Adm edit: Split from member woes. Please post any and all car\tech\other bike etc related topics in this (Other...) board.

[morris]

Bloody hell, 2 days to lift an engine out and put it back in with all the necessary gear at your disposal !!???
BTW, is that the boxer engine?

[WozzA]

Hi Morris,   yes it's the 2ltr Boxer engine.. 
I'd have thought the valve springs could have been accessed via the rocker covers?, BUT I noticed the harmonic balance wheel had been removed & timing marks painted also...

[morris]

Working for a Japanese company for many years thought me, among other things, that Japanese engineers  paintmark every nut and bolt they tighten, so the markings may be factory markings?
Anyway, charging 2 days for an engine out job looks like a lot to me.

[RichardL]

I had a similar issue in our Outback. I thought they were crazy-greedy for wanting US$2Kish to fix it. I asked if it was not covered by our extended warranty. Oh, "no," the girl at the service desk said emphatically with great confidence that she was correct. Asked her to check to be sure and got the same answer. Told them to hold off and I would think about it till the next day. At home, dug out the extended warranty, and there it was, seals were covered. Went to the manager of the dealer and sat down with him to make sure he agreed. Fine, except for one thing, I wasn't about to accept a simple apology for them about to hijack us for $2K. I insisted they replace the seals on both sides of the boxer as preventative medicine. He agreed. She's gone (not sure it was because of me, but I'm fine with it).

Richard L.

[muskrat]

G'day Woz.
I'd be giving Fair Trading a call.
Cheers

[Joolstacho]

Our '02 Forester has been very reliable, luckily.
My kiwi mate tells me that old Soobs are a favourite with the Maori boys over there who think nothing of swapping a motor in a couple of hours.

[olev]

My old Liberty cost me a fortune in speeding fines and 12 months on good behavior with two points to play with.
It wasn't me. It was the car.
cheers

[BagONails]

Hi Morris,   yes it's the 2ltr Boxer engine.. 
I'd have thought the valve springs could have been accessed via the rocker covers?, BUT I noticed the harmonic balance wheel had been removed & timing marks painted also...

G'day Wozza, You might be interested in viewing this excellent bit of video from an independant Scoobie specialist here in Oz. Certainly explains where and why these leaks come from and what's involved in fixing them. Judging by some of the comments Subaru may be aware this is an increasing reliability problem on these later chain driven camshaft engines (2.0 & 2.5 FA & FB)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8287n_K54s

Subaru's are generally very reliable and well made with robust engines and transmissions easily good for 300,000 kms without major overhaul but they do seem to have a bit of a name for oil leaks. We own a 2009 Forrester with EJ 2.5 engine which has now done 180,000km and has just developed its oil leak! (owned it for 12 years and only failure so far has been the coil pack) Fortunately this is still only minor coming from the head gasket and luckily not enough to drip on anything, just a bit of a mess to clean up every year when I change the oil. I am monitoring it and check oil levels frequently with a small top up required at 6 months in currently. So far it hasn't got any worse so I'll live with it for now.

I'd say you should push back on the dealer and Subaru saying they should stand by their warranty work for life and that this is a known weakness. I don't think you should be paying half. Good luck with it all.

[Joolstacho]

I think a lot of what WozzA says is right. Mine feels sturdy and reliable, but it's worth bearing in mind that because it's a boxer engine, some otherwise simple service / repair jobs require the whole motor to be lifted out. It's not the smoothest engine in the village either... but maybe recent examples are better for this. Mine has always had too much road-noise, wind noise and just 'general' noise. My 23 year old SAAB 9.3 is utterly smooth and silent in comparison.

[WozzA]

I'll certainly be speaking to the service manager re what was done and the method of replacing the valve springs when it was recalled...  The cars 6 year warranty ran out in 2019, 
From what I can gather from you tube it's quite a common fault .. weather Subaru want to admit it is another thing.   Possibly caused because the timing cover does not have a gasket as such, but gasket goo spread on one of the 2 surfaces & squished together..  as can be seen in the 1st photo..
Thanks for the reply's