well...its official

[magicmike]

I have an oil leak on my engine rebuild......From what I can see its dripping very slightly from the back edge of the oil pan (where it meets the block) now, given the crossmember being in the way I cant see if the drip is coming from above the oil pan or from the gasket. I doubt its the rear main seal because the TC plate is bone dry, but there are two "plugs" that are meant to access the piston pins that have small O rings which can go bad. These plugs are located on either side of the crankshaft flange. I just heard this today from a good guy at the subaru dealer. I hope this is not what is bad. I'll have to take the engine back out to fix it. Very bad news. I'm going to wait it out for a little while I guess and see what heppens. I probably should have filled the thing with oil while it was still out of the car. well, hind sight is 20/20 I guess.....

-Mike

[douglas vincent]

Except I doubt filling it with oil without running it would have done anything at all. The engine has to have some sort of pressure for seals to leak usually.

And how bad is the leak anyway? Bad enough to actually repull the engine?

I had a HORRIBLE oil leak after my first engine rebuild, but it only leaked while running. When I came to a stop, smoke would start wafting up from the engine bay as the oil burned off the exhaust pipes. The oil would also coat my rear wind of the wagon horribly.

When I blew my #4 piston and pulled the engine, I found my leak. The OIL FILTER! It was loose and was just seeping out ALOT of oil.

So if you werent leaking oil before your rebuild, didnt change anything that should cause an oil leak, I would check all areas that can leak, but shouldn't, but would be areas that you messed with during the engine rebuild.

[magicmike]

well, its leaving a spill mark about 3 inches in diameter overnight. I'd estimate just from when I was watching it that it was dripping one drip every few minutes. I notice that when I check the oil its over the full mark on the dip stick. I read that it takes 4.8 quarts. is this the right amount? I feel like there might be too much oil in there or something lol Well if it keeps leaking I'm pulling the engine before it gets all sloppy.