legacycentral bbs

My engine is leaking on my 92 legagacy. I have pretty much concluded that it is the front crank seal(Based on other posts in this forum) I am not very mechanically inclined, so i will probably have my mechanic do this. I added up the price of the parts (Timing belt, Water pump, Front crank seal, cam seals, and the oil pump gasket and seals) And it seems to be in the neighborhood of 100$. How much should i be looking to pay for labor on this job. I've heard people say the engine must be removed. I am not rolling in funds, so this seems like it may be costly.

THe leak was very minor at first, but after returning from a 300 mile roadtrip, i knowticed it was leaving about 100 times more(could this have been the high milage oil i added to my traditional oil? Or did the trip make it worse.

Thanks alot guys

You don't have to take the engine out, I just did my crank,both cam seals and timing belt myself. I would think the parts would be more like $150 because of the water pump...Anyways I would expect around 5-6 hrs labor
So it depends on the labor rate but around $500 total, maybe a little higher

You should replace all the seals and the timing belt while you are at it. Water pump and oil pump should be a consideration.

There is enough room if you only remove the fans, but its far easier if you remove the radiator as well.

I'm not sure but spending $500 or more for what you described seems a little expensive to me. If you're not rolling in funds I personally wouldn't want to pay someone $500 for fixing a crank seal leak. If you can't do it yourself I would maybe think about limiting the amount of work if you can. If it's going to cost you $500 to do all those things then forget about the water pump maybe. If the pump isn't leaking and still working fine then you could get that some other time when your funds are more plentiful. This is all my opinion and I don't know if it's logical. You might want to see if the garage will cut you a break on the labor costs.

This really shouldn't be that expensive. I could do the timing belt and pumps in a couple of hours and I'm sure the seals aren't too difficult. I would think an experienced mechanic with all the tools would be able to do it in a morning. Maybe ~$250-280 labor?

Steve

The reason its so expensive is that you have to remove everything to get to it! Thats why I said replace the other items at the same time, the labor cost wont increase much and you wont have to open the engine again for another 60k+ miles.

Well this seems to have torn the group a little bit. LOL

As to the comment about 150 for parts, I found all the parts listed on the internet and my mechanic told me i could bring him the parts for him to put in. Water pump was only 55.00 and the seals are basically free, 38 for the timing belt as well.

The mechanic that i baught it from seems to cut me a break as it is. (Replacing both rear rotors and pads Was like 110.00 New) Where midas was trying to charge me 200+. I have an Appt with him on thursday so i will see what he has to say.

THanks a million guys

Be careful with the parts you put in! Get either Subaru oem or very high quality parts. These are parts that you wont see for 60,000+ miles! Make sure you get Subaru seals especially and at least a Dayco if not Subaru timing belt. The water pump goes the same. I mean I know how it is to try and save money when getting work done ( I do it myself sometimes) but this isn't something you want skimp on. The extra $50-$60 is worth the peace of mind in my opinion.