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Oil Leak

3406 Views 7 Replies 3 Participants Last post by  Flat6er, 
T
Last year I bought an 07 Tribeca with 155k on it. It seems to be in great condition and very clean. The guy who had it before me said he liked to do things himself on it which is fine I do too but it developed an oil leak and he tried to epoxy what he thought was leaking but it didn’t work. When I bought it I was aware of the leak but didn’t realize he tried to fix it, just used it to get a lower price. It appears to be coming down from the engine in front of the oil pan, but it doesn’t look like it’d be the oil pan gasket. I have checked everything I can without pulling the engine but can’t figure out what would be leaking. Ill attach a picture for reference and you can see the epoxy job that was unsuccessful. A local shop said they’d have to just take the engine out and the timing cover off which would be $1100 to do without even knowing what’s wrong with it. So any help or any leads would be much appreciated!
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twb123 said:
Last year I bought an 07 Tribeca with 155k on it. It seems to be in great condition and very clean. The guy who had it before me said he liked to do things himself on it which is fine I do too but it developed an oil leak and he tried to epoxy what he thought was leaking but it didn’t work. When I bought it I was aware of the leak but didn’t realize he tried to fix it, just used it to get a lower price. It appears to be coming down from the engine in front of the oil pan, but it doesn’t look like it’d be the oil pan gasket. I have checked everything I can without pulling the engine but can’t figure out what would be leaking. Ill attach a picture for reference and you can see the epoxy job that was unsuccessful. A local shop said they’d have to just take the engine out and the timing cover off which would be $1100 to do without even knowing what’s wrong with it. So any help or any leads would be much appreciated! View attachment 2463
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Just to be sure, why don't you clean it up really well and then use uv dye that you pour into your oil from your local auto parts store and a good uv light (one with multiple leds) that so that you can likely much more easily identify the leak.

Depending on how awful the leak is to get to and how hard it is to reach I'd use some high mileage oil see nif it works well enough and call it a day. The ez30r has alot of latitude for oil thickness per the manual. Some of that of course depends on your weather conditions though.

Try the dye. Maybe it's something simple.
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Flat6er
judging by picture - it is front of engine. most probably - under timing chain covers are a lot of sealing orings etc:

so - to eliminate oil leak - check the price for timing chains replacement and I would say that those 1k bucks are not dealerships usual "let's milk this money cow" type money extorsion :D
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Any luck OP?
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T
I haven’t had time to stop and get the dye yet, it’s been getting new tires put on it. I pulled what I could off the engine but still can’t see where it’d be coming from. I think I’m going to take the advice and change the oil to a heavier weight and see if that helps. Like I said earlier it’s not leaking a ton so I don’t mind just topping it off for a few months until work settles down and I have a little bit of time to play with it. Next time I’m at the story though I’m going to pick up some of that dye to see if that would give me anymore leads. That’s for the advice, if I find anything out I’ll post on here, since it doesn’t seem to be a very common oil leak.
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twb123 said:
I haven’t had time to stop and get the dye yet, it’s been getting new tires put on it. I pulled what I could off the engine but still can’t see where it’d be coming from. I think I’m going to take the advice and change the oil to a heavier weight and see if that helps. Like I said earlier it’s not leaking a ton so I don’t mind just topping it off for a few months until work settles down and I have a little bit of time to play with it. Next time I’m at the story though I’m going to pick up some of that dye to see if that would give me anymore leads. That’s for the advice, if I find anything out I’ll post on here, since it doesn’t seem to be a very common oil leak.
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I would try it out and work through the problem when you have spare time. You can also get the dye on Amazon. It stays the same color throughout the life of your oil change anyways. You will be able to get a better UV light for less too. Even 10w-40 is in spec for this engine. I would leverage that weight depending on how cold it is where you are. Starts might be a bit harder so make sure your battery is up to snuff.

Fuel economy and power might be down a smidgeon with thicker oil as well.

If you have time and aren't familiar, read up on oil weight and temperature.
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T
I know it’s been awhile, finally just took it to a shop. Both the timing chain cover and the valve covers were leaking. Engine is out and they are fixing both leaks. Not cheap but the Subaru still has a lot of life left.
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Flat6er
I would suggest to replace valve seals and adjust valve-camshaft gaps...
of course, ideally - camshaft phasers resealed...
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