My rear main is leaking

[entirelyturbo]

Figures. After all the sheeot I've talked about Subarus NEVER leaking from their rear mains, no matter how old they are.

I had my car up on a lift at work last week to rotate the tires, and I was looking around underneath it, and yes...

... the rear main is now leaking. The back of the block, right where the oil pan meets it, has oil residue on it. It's not the oil pan leaking, because I just resealed it.



Can't really complain I guess. There are worse problems the car could be having at 172k.

I just thought it was funny that I jinxed myself, yet again.

Carry on.

[evolutionmovement]

Subarus never do or YOUR Subarus never did? My '83 sedan leaked like a mother and I had a small leak in the Legacy. The turbo engine I pulled from the parts car also had leaked from the rear main. It's an easy job, just a PITA to pull the motor to do it when you're lazy like me.

[SemperGuard]

Separator plate. Updated part, five regular bolts, and another with lock-tite, you know the part numbers. 5mm allen, or maybe 4mm. Put the loc-tite one in the hole with the arrow. Or reuse your old one if you feel cheap.

Be smart and pull the tranny.

[thehookeup]

you sure its the rear main and not that crappy baffle plate thing?

[jake15]

you sure its the rear main and not that crappy baffle plate thing?

thats the separator plate. and it gets my vote too, those stupid plastic ones get hot and warp, get the updated metal one

[entirelyturbo]

Old Subarus that I've seen are virtually never leaking from the rear main.

You all could be right, it could be the separator plate. I should indicate though that the residue is distributed pretty evenly across the bottom, and the separator plate is on the passenger side of the engine IIRC.

When I get around to it, I'll be pulling the engine instead, for a number of reasons.

First, I'm thinking of possibly going NA tuned on this car, maybe some headwork and cams, slight fuel upgrades, minor EM, etc. If I do, I'd like to see 170-180chp.

Then again, I probably won't. Regardless, the valve guides are leaking slightly also... I'm losing a quart of oil every 1k miles, and I know my oil pump and rear main/separator plate/whatever are not leaking THAT much.

Steve, I believe you said that it's possible to change valve guides without pulling the heads? I'd also like to get new HLA's too, as mine still tap slightly at idle, even when I have the oil topped off.

I'll also want a new clutch by then.

And also, two of the holes in the body for tranny Xmember bolts were stripped out and I rethreaded them. So far, they're holding up with Loctite, and if possible, I'd like not to mess with that.

At the VERY least, this won't happen until after I graduate anyway. And I've got more important things to tend to once that happens, namely wheel bearings ( ), body work, and FINALLY getting the A/C working again.