Went to change the oil in my 2003 wrx wagon today and noticed that the passenger motor mount and part of the surrounding area around the valve cover gasket were dirty with oil. I was curious if there was a writeup or if anyone could tell me if this is an easy replacement. I'm in a cold garage and would like to put it off until spring, but if its a quick easy job I could tough it out in the garage. I'm guessing the heat from the uppipe is the cause of failure? The driver side isn't nearly as bad, just a tiny bit of oil reside. Times like these I wish I had my 4 cylinder honda back, 5 min job tops, haha!
If it's just the valve cover you should be able to get it done fast and easy. Need small hands at times, but not bad at all.
Its not too bad. I think all the parts cost me around 50 bucks at the time. You need headcover gaskets, sparkplug tube gaskets, the rubber washers that go under the head cover bolts, and a couple of those half moons. To replace all of it. Remove the bolts holding the sparkplug wires in. Remove the spark plugs. Remove the valve cover bolts and throw away the rubber washers (you may want to do an oil change at the same time, as it is easier with the oil drained.). Ne,t removethe head cover. Take the sparkplug tube gaskets and headcover gaskets out. Clean the channels on the cover where the gaskets sat. Position the new gaskets in place and put the cover back on. Check around it with your finger, sometimes it takes a couple tries to get the gasket to sit correctly. Use the new rubber bolt seals and the bolts to fasten the cover. Then put the sparkplugs back in and reattach everything.
Don't forget the liquid gasket. I use hondabond. You need it around the sharp bends and on top of the half moons.
so draining the oil is 100% necessary? Dang it I just discovered the leak on my last oil change which was 100 miles ago, doh!
You don't have to drain the oil. If you want to jack th passenger side up before you do it, that might help enough to get as much oil left in that area to drain down the galley. Oil will leak out of the valve cover even if you drained the pan out. Some will leak out but you won't loose much. Try to have rags to catch the oil instead of it dropping onto your exhaust.
