The most common oil leaks on the FB and FA motors are the front timing chain covers, valve cover gaskets, camshaft carrier cases and upper oil pan O-ring failures. Unfortunately, on the upper oil pan O-rings failure, you can’t see them fail until it’s too late, so on these, we highly recommend getting ahead of the issue and having the upper oil pan O-rings replaced every 10 years or 100,000 miles. Why did we pick 10 years? Because that’s how many years it had been compared to the year of Subaru’s we were seeing the max fluctuation of this issue. That’s when it had started to be very apparent to every shop that it was going to be an issue on the FB/FA motors. There are 3 upper oil pan O-rings in there that are failing. Why are they failing? Time and age are against them, as any gasket and seal on any vehicle on the road, they deal with heat exchange, expansion and contraction on a rubber gasket that after time just inflates, expands, cracks, stiffen and swells and loses its elasticity suddenly its sealing capabilities are gone. Allowing mixtures of fluids or leaks to occur. Unfortunately, in this case, it is in a vital location that the failure is occurring and causing significant damage. How to prevent it for as long as possible, don’t let the oil go low and if it does, top it off as soon as possible. Doing more frequent oil changes is my best advice possible. If you’ve exceeded the manufactures mileage and time intervals, we see them fail sooner than 10 years and normally under 90,000 miles. Why is this repair so costly, because you must remove the front timing chain cover that has 36 bolts, that holds the cover on. Plus, then scrap all the residual sealer off the 3-foot cover perfectly so you can get a good bead of new sealer on. We also run the covers through our parts washer and clean as thoroughly as possible to prevent any containments from entering the system. We will also replace the O-rings related to the front cover reseal as needed. Can’t you just replace the upper pan O-rings without taking the front timing chain cover off? No, to do it correctly and to prevent any further leaks, no. We have heard of people just applying massive amount of sealer across the mating part of the cover to where the upper pan meets it, instead of removing the front timing chain cover and applying the sealer in the correct spot. But that is not a correct repair to our standards and there can’t be any warranty supplied for something like that. This is the new big issue that replaced Subaru’s cursed head gaskets issues of the past.     Cam carrier leaks. The main most common issue and leak we see, in my opinion, is the cam carrier leakage. The cam carrier’s main function is being the cam journals for the engine valvetrain. It is also the mounting carrier for the valve covers to bolt to the cylinder heads. The cylinder heads do not need to come off to replace the cam carrier O-rings, but again, the front timing chain cover does, on top of needing to remove the engine out of the car to be able to remove the cam carriers off the engine. The camshafts need to be removed from the cylinder heads to replace and reseal the cam carriers to the cylinder heads. Also, anytime you must remove the engine from the car, it is a costly repair. It is nearly the same price as what head gaskets replacements were during the 2010 area. So, yes, it seems Subaru has gotten the Cylinder Head Gasket issue/curse taken care of but has a new bucket of similar issues.   Another very common oil leak is the front timing chain cover, and if not addressed, can leak enough oil onto other components. For instance, the lower radiator hose, causing it to wear sooner than it should. Probably the most common one to cause the most issues is the front air fuel sensor (Upstream sensor) the oil goes down the wire loom and damages it to the point of causing a check engine light and cruise light to illuminate and affect the Subaru’s run ability to properly control the air fuel ratio accurately.

Cam Case VS Valve Cover leak

This is where we see shops and garages make the biggest mistakes, they assume the oil leak is coming from the valve covers when it’s the cam carriers. Big price difference on the repair. This is where the expertise of someone that only does Subarus and only works on Subarus comes into play. It’s far too easy for a less experienced Subaru shop to quote the minimum to get the sale, not fully recognizing that we truly owe it to our customers to be Subaru experts and present findings based on proof of failure. Present a repair plan that will match what the Subaru owner needs from their Subaru and your long- or short-term plans for the car.

At Northwest Subie Specialists we give options when they are available. We rate the leaks at an understandable level, so you know the urgency of them, and we give our best estimate on timing when it comes to these oil leaks. We ask the questions that sometimes arise, how long are you planning to keep this car, how long have you owned it? How long are you planning to own it for. Do you still love your Subie as much as when you first bought it. We advise you on possible future issues and we will discuss with you whether proceeding with some repairs is worth doing during that visit or maybe waiting a little longer because it’s not that bad of leak and there might be overlapping labor involving other repairs. We will give you our honest opinion if proceeding with the repairs is worth doing and investing in your Subie, or if it’s time to consider a new one. We are not the type of shop that is into just making quick sales or fast cash grab. We are in it, to make your Subaru last as long as possible. It is to be honest and upfront about your vehicle’s issues and what the best course of action may be. That has always been our goal, is to get our customers cars in the 200k-300k mile range, get the most out of their investment as possible. In my experience, if you still enjoy your Subaru and it’s maintained well, why not invest in it. It beats nowadays car payments.