Subie pals! This past weekend I took it upon myself and a mate to replace the passenger side Camshaft seals on my 2005 92x Aero (EJ205) Part#806732160 x2 and a new Gates belt. Reason being, in the summer of 2014 I did the timing and neglected to do the passenger head cam seals due to not having the cam tool and not feeling comfortable using the old belt to lock the gears in place and remove bolts. So, over the weekend my pal and I pulled the timing bits off nice and carefully and replaced the two seals. Finished up very early in the morning, burped the coolant (OEM green stuff 50/50) and got home just in time to sleep before the sun came up. The following afternoon I went cruising to make sure everything was up to snuff. No smells, other than a little coolant from spilling during fill up. Then monday morning came and I had to go to work! I get about 3 miles into my morning commute and at a stop light I smell oil. I stop the car, take a look and there is a little bit puddled on exhaust pipes. No biggie I thought, I will degrease motor once I get done with work. Washed her up all nice and good. Drove another 40 miles and there we have it, oil pooling on exhaust again... TLDR I am going to assume I didn't install the seals correctly. As in, they were not seated properly and they decided to gush out. Or is there something I am missing???! I took thursday/friday off to go enjoy myself a bit and maybe go out of town. Now I will be redoing my work because I absolutely refuse to deal with that damned oil burning smell. Can any subiepros make any recommendations, tips or pointers as to do this job correctly? I'd been down the road many times before and didn't think it was that easy to biff it so hard. PLEASE HALLLPPPP
Inner lip is probably folded over. What did you use to install (big socket?) and did you oil up the seals really well before pressing them in?
The inner lip looked pretty dang alright. As far as I could see that is! I used a big ass socket, even picked up one I thought was the most appropriate size at orielly. Only thing I can imagine is that It went on crooked or too deep into the seal well. And I did use motor oil to install seal. I just don't get how it would be so gushy unless I did a REALLY bad job and the seals are all sorts of mangled now?
I was fairly confident that the inner lip was totally "aiiight"! But I could be wrong, once I pull all the bits off I will be able to tell what exactly happened. As far as seating the new seals. How far in must they be? Should they bottom out in their backs? (All the way in) Is there some set amount of clearance that is appropriate? And thank you for chiming in always nice to get feedback from fellow enthusiasts!
Another question I have is how much oil pressure is behind the seal anyway? I can't imagine there would be much or enough to push that much oil out through a seal. Unless the seal is extremely goofed up. Could this be a symptom of another problem? I do reckon with a great amount of spinning oil may come out passed the seal too?
UPDATE: Replaced both seals, AGAIN. Timed up motor, gave it a few cranks by hand to make sure everything lined up. All was good for timing! Used a new Gates Timing belt during replacement of cam seals last week. Reused belt again during this job as it only about 100 miles on it. All bolts torqued to spec. ( Kept spec sheet from gates kit during original job) Drove home from parents house where I did the work in their garage( about 10 miles). Spilled a little coolant, and Hydraulic fluid from PS hose during job. This morning while getting back from out of town (took different vehicle) I popped hood, still a little oil on heat shields so I hit it with some Simple Green and dishsoap. Washed it off and dried it up and went on a drive. Hard to tell but looks as if there is still some oil and I am absolutely stumped... Things I've done so far to the 92x Full timing job - 120,000 when car purchased. Including all seals minus passenger cam seals. Gates kit, OEM pump and Seals. Spark plugs too, NGK Iridium. Valve cover gaskets, twice on the passenger side where I thought it was leaking. Replaced with OEM Parts. and Ultra black used on gasket and grommets. New Power steering pump. - Not leaking, checked all over. Replaced fluid. Two rear wheel bearings.- Koyo always. Brakes, Brembo OE Rotors with Akebono pads. Boost gauge install. Sway bar end links + bushings. Catback exhaust Rotella t6 and OEM Subaru Filters Always! - Edit Have not done any crazy engine mods, running stock turbo and intake. Definitely drive like a grandma most of the time. No hard pulls, no stupid launching, no redlining etc... At the end of the day, if all such items have been serviced what else could cause such a PITA oil leak near the cams/front of passenger valve cover? Is it worth pulling engine, peeing my pants and rebuilding the entire thing? It boggles the mind how much one little engine can leak so much fluid. I am really losing patience with this car and kind of want to kill it with fire and buy a new Mini van.
Please leave it east of 169, north of 55, west of Douglas Drive and south of Medicine Lake Road when you do. Anytime after 9pm is great. Thanks!
Still have a little patience. Still dripping. What is odd is that in the morning when I pop the hood, there is a small nickel sized puddle of oil on the passenger side of exhaust manifold. Starting to think when I did the VCG the last time I did NOT let the RTV cure over night. Pretty sure I went driving a few hours after. Doing VCG again this weekend with OEM gasket.
Thought I did...... Over the weekend I replaced the valve cover gasket AGAIN. Used a new oem gasket, grommets and let the RTV set for 24 hours as the FSM says. Checked again this morning and there is the same little puddle of oil. I'm out of ideas. Absolutely baffled. It's not smoking anymore so it must have helped a little but it's still enough to make me think about it constantly and bite my nails every 5 minutes. THERES NO WINNING WITH SAABARU
As you can see right below the exhaust camshaft from the timing cover there is a small puddle of oil. It is not coming from timing cover but that "general area" When I did this, I did use an OEM gasket and Permatex Ultra Black " MAXIMUM OIL RESISTANCE" let it set for 24 hours and applied RTV between gasket and mating surface on the head as noted in FSM. What am I doing wrong here? Use honda bond or three bond? I did only tighten bolts enough to snug them up. Definitely did not crank them in there hard! The odd thing is, if I was it off and let my car sit all night, a puddle will appear in the morning even with out driving the car! PLZ HELP MEEEEEEEEEE
Me...I'd just establish a baseline for how often to add oil and if it is reasonable, go that route. No need to think of yourself as a failure as a mechanic. Sometimes the path of least resistance is the way to go.
Those are some words of wisdom right there. It's not even enough oil to require needs for checking oil level constantly. I always check every few hundred miles or so anyway. I can't be hittin them corners on the low lows, come to a light and be be like " sniff sniff, Omg it's happening again!?!?!?!?!" I ordered another VCG and this time HONDA Bond. I will try once more at my next oil change. If it continues to leak I'll save for new engine. F**K OIL LEAKS! Compared to my OBS, each repair job on this car with a few exceptions has been pretty challenging. I didn't quite realize what I was getting into when I bought this car. This is the only issue I have left to resolve!
I'm not noticing as much oil in the same trouble area. I'm gonna wait until my next oil change to think about doing more work. Haven't seen the puddle in a few days..
Give it a little more time and you will forget all about it. You were originally oversensitive because you had just worked on the car.
BUMP! Back to the leaky thangs... Looks like the drip on the front has stopped. Not really sure what was going on there... Looking over the motor it appears I've got some oily build up on my Up Pipe. Starting to think Oil drain line from turbo is leaking pretty bad. I've read that is a pretty common leak spot. Gonna wait for a warm weekend to tackle this. Going to inspect drain pipe tube on turbo, replace hose and clamp the snot out of it!! Has anyone done this before? Should I remove Downpipe or Uppipe to get access to the drain hose? Considering upgrading DP and getting a tune. Nothing vicious. I have a 3" Catback on already. Tone is good. Not too loud. Not sure if adapters are needed. Plz Hallppppp!!!
Oil drain pipe is a real pita to get to. I've always just pulled the turbo is the best way I found to get to it
I don't know how many times I've said this to myself. So many frustrations with things that seem like they should be so easy. Got similar oil leak issues on the passenger side valve cover. And of course the POS leaks right onto the damn uppipe. Could care less about adding a bit of oil every now and then but the smell of it on there just pisses me off to no end. Have contemplated just fabricating a piece of metal to divert it over and around the exhaust.
I'm not losing too much oil. Very minimal and have't had to top my oil off as much lately.. Hrrmmm... But yes, that is the smell of death. It's quite possibly one of the most annoying smells ever. I just worry that next road trip it will start on fire
To pull turbo you disconnect both up and down pipe? Clamp from turbo inlet and intercooler? That sounds painful too! I'm sure all the bolts for turbo, shield, is all rusted to hell anyway.. I think the last I looked my oil supply pipe was pretty rusty too. Time for a once over in that area I think.
Correct. You will need to remove the 5(i believe) dp bolts. The 3 up-pipe bolts and then remove the inter-cooler. Loosen up the hose clamp for the intake boot. Coolant lines and oil feed line will have to be taken off then it will lift out. You will lose coolant in the process of doing this
When I had my motor apart I was pleasantly surprised by how easy all of those related bolts came out, despite how rusty they appeared. Something with the heat I think. No idea how to explain it, just something I've noticed.
UPDATE! I took the Saabaru to JM Auto to have them replace up-pipe with Invidia and check/replace oil return pipe. Turns out I had a blown axle and my valve cover was still very juicy... Those guys did a great job on the work. Finally once I got the car back, replaced the blown axle ( turbo side) spewing muck all over exhaust and replaced valve cover gasket with an OEM Genuine Subaru VCG, Half moons and grommets. This time, I used Honda Bond HT. Let it cure for a full 24 hours. AND NOOOOO MORE LEAKS!!!!! I've never been so happy to drive a leak free car in my life. Thanks for all the chiming in folks, it was a rough battle but next time I will do better research and get jobs done with better quality parts.
Glad to hear you got the leaks all figured out, always a nice relief! In the future, sometimes a thorough visual inspection can be very helpful before you start ripping stuff apart But hearing about all of the issues with replacing the valve cover gasket makes me not want to tackle this job on my fiance's Outback!
