Already used the search button but still have quite a few questions.

My main concern with purchasing a used Subaru is having an oil leak that could cost me lots of money.

From my research, I've found the following:
a) EJ22s are prone to oil leaks. Apparently this has something to do with the front oil seals needing replacing?
b) EJ25s have oil pump gasket problems. Is this true?

I know there are used cars out there that, once you put on enough mileage, the engine starts to leak oil like crazy. I'm wondering if the EJ22 and EJ25 are those type of engines. OR, even if they do begin to leak oil, can it be fixed for relatively little cost?

Ide say all EJ series engines are prone to the same leaks. THat would be :

Front crank seal
Oil pump/oil pump o-ring
cam seals.

Personally my 95 impreza's EJ18 started leaking around 110,000 miles. THe next year our 96' outback with EJ25 developed the same leak with only 60,000 miles. THat would put them both around the 8 year old mark when it happened. So it might be more of a age thing than mileage, although that could have been a coincidence.

Should be around $400 from a dealer for a crank seal/oil pump reseal from the dealer. maybe slightly more for DOHC engines because the timing belt has to come off and it takes alittle longer on DOHC engines.

I guess with enough repair, any oil leak can be fixed.
but thanks for the info. so it shouldn't cost me an arm and a leg to fix it ,eh?

$400 seems about right for seal replacement. If the engine has close to 60k on it do the timing belt and waterpump as well. Oil leaks suck. That's part of the reason my engine blew up. :(

The 98 EJ25's were prone to head gasket leaks, so check for oil around where the spark plugs go into the engine. They make a revised version of those gaskets now that are alot stronger.


Stu

The EJ18 in my 95 Impreza has had an oil leak since I got it 3 years ago. It just recently started getting pretty bad. I looked through my maintenance records and saw a mechanic wrote in the comments on one sheet, "oil pump needs resealing".

Some guy at work told me it was probably just a matter of unbolting the oil pump and installing new gaskets. Does this sound right or is it more complex than that?

Originally posted by DoinkMobb
The EJ18 in my 95 Impreza has had an oil leak since I got it 3 years ago. It just recently started getting pretty bad. I looked through my maintenance records and saw a mechanic wrote in the comments on one sheet, "oil pump needs resealing".

Some guy at work told me it was probably just a matter of unbolting the oil pump and installing new gaskets. Does this sound right or is it more complex than that?

I'll let you know...I just bought all the seals and gaskets to rebuild the oil pump on the EJ22T I'm building...the manuals make it sound to be pretty easy....

Originally posted by Stubaru
The 98 EJ25's were prone to head gasket leaks, so check for oil around where the spark plugs go into the engine. They make a revised version of those gaskets now that are alot stronger.


Stu

I noticed oil leaking inside around the top of the valve cover on my 2000 RS just the other day when I did the spark plugs. Would this be considered a leaking head? I've never seen oil leaking from the spark plug "tunnels" before and would not have discovered it without having pulled the spark plug boots off. It was like this only on the passenger side of my engine.

Joe