Ok, so I want Nasioc's opinion before I get my car serviced (as I'm a poor, almost broke college student.) I have an 02 RS with about 43k on it. My problem is the oil pan. I changed the oil (plus the plug and crush washer) and it's been leaking constantly. I even had a shop I thought I trusted to rechange it and it STILL leaks. Seems like the pan is threaded out. So, I wanna replace the dang oil pan. Since my car is still under 60k for the drivetrain warranty, the oil pan is covered by SOA. Here is where it gets odd:

I'm takin it to Flow Subaru of Winston-Salem, NC. I took it there when I first got it because the passenger side window was busted (switch.) They said they wouldnt honor my warranty because they looked at my car and it had been damaged. This is true I found out later. I caught up with the original owner, and it had indeed been damaged. The car was hit on the back right passenger side door. The damage was minimal and was repaired well, but not under a subaru dealership.

So...

If I take it back to this same place and ask them to replace my oil pan (under warranty) will they still say no? Even though it has no involvement in the wreck? Is this correct that the warranty is gone if damaged? It does NOT have a salvage title and was NOT reported on my carfax report when I got it. The first time I found out was when the Subaru techs showed me it.

What should I do? Do I have the validity to argue with them to replace it? They're nice guys, but I don't know how crappy they are on warranty service.

Thanks in advance guys! I really need some answers before I argue my ass off (or make a fool of myself?) lol.

Sounds to me from your description like the leak was caused by abuse (someone overtightening the oil plug). I wouldn't expect Subaru to cover anything like that under
warranty.
However, this IS a reasonably common think to have damaged on cars, so there are a number of solutions that are fairly quick and inexpensive (less than $100) and do not involve a new oilpan. In fact, there was a thread about someone in your situation just in the last few weeks. Try searching for "oil pan" and "fumoto valve" limited to the last 2 weeks and you should find it.

Yup, I was the started of that thread actually. I know the fumoto valve will be nice, but I really don't want to put out 23 bucks for the valve, plus installation of it (I doubt I'd do a good job myself.) Not to mention, the leak would still be there with a fumoto, unless some type of hardcore sealant be applied as well (and I'd rather not have that risk.) Just seems better to have a straight oilpan change rather than worrying about the same one.

Oil pan is less than $100, and only takes like an hour to replace.

Oil pan is less than $100, and only takes like an hour to replace.

Probably not the right place to ask, but what is the install like? Difficult? Any instructions you can give or links or anything? Thanks!

Bumpity for a few more comments?

We had a Honda always serviced at the dealer, at about 150000 miles they charged us for a new oil pan because the drain threads were stripped. In the end, the regional rep stated that it was a wear item!??! not caused by faulty installation of the plug (never did get an answer to why Honda would design threads to wear out.) We did not pusue it because the oil pan was cheap but it was odd that Honda, which had given us great service and warrenty up to that point, dug their heels in on this one. I could see that the threads had been cross threaded, but the rep was clearly sticking to the wear at 150,000 miles story regardless of any other evidence.