possible main rear seal leak?

[slaytalera]

Hey guys, my 97 outback might have a main rear seal leak...usually only under pressure(like loading up the car with stuff or driving up steep hill....which is common because i live ontop of a mountain) itll leak and when i stop theres smoke everywhere. ive been "patching" it every oil change with main rear seal stop leak additive and its working fine...but its getting annoying. How hard would this be to just fix and end? i doubt its the HG because that was already a yaer and a half ago and the problem probably just started around october-novermberish.

[dplacencia]

Hey guys, my 97 outback might have a main rear seal leak...usually only under pressure(like loading up the car with stuff or driving up steep hill....which is common because i live ontop of a mountain) itll leak and when i stop theres smoke everywhere. ive been "patching" it every oil change with main rear seal stop leak additive and its working fine...but its getting annoying. How hard would this be to just fix and end? i doubt its the HG because that was already a yaer and a half ago and the problem probably just started around october-novermberish.

It's probably your rear baffle plate. But you should do everything. Rear main seal and aluminum baffle plate. The trans has to come out to do this. I do it at work all the time. :wink:

[ProjectLGT97]

Dont take the trans out... Pull the motor, its so much easier IMO.

I just had head gasket problems and my cousin and i pulled the motor in 2.5 hours

[slaytalera]

well it looks like ill have to rent out one of my dads bays for a day...thisll be fun

[)2edline]

I'm taking a guess that I have this same problem, anyone have any experience with stop leak products?

[ProjectLGT97]

I'm taking a guess that I have this same problem, anyone have any experience with stop leak products?

Doesn't that just basically make your oil extremely thick?

[dplacencia]

The best fix is repairing the problem.

[slaytalera]

the one i use doesnt seem to thicken up the oil. at least when i change my oil it doesnt seem thicker then when it went in. ive been using it for almost a year with no problems...though id like to not have to spend an extra $20 every oil change(i drive around alot....)

[98BG5GT]

Stay away from the engine stop leak products. They chemically soften the seals over time causing them to swell and "temporarily fix" the leak. Your best option is to cure the problem instead of treating the symptoms. Those stop leak products take around 500 miles of driving to swell the seals and by that time your compromising the actual operation life of other seals in the engine. Just fix the rear main seal and oil separator plate. This should alleviate any potential for catastrophic oil seal failure.

[Grafton]

took less than a days work by me to pull my motor do the clutch flywheel and rear main seal and an axle shouldn't be too diffuclt for you plus you dont have to take off you hood :D

[birukun]

Do you have a 4EAT?

When my car was dripping oil out of the valve covers and down on to the exhaust, there was hardly any smoke - but when I had A/T fluid coming out of the top of my tranny, it smoked like a banshee going uphill . There is a little tube on the top of the tranny (like on top of a solenoid) that was spitting fluid out that ended up on the exhaust. This only happened going uphill with a full car, at highway speeds.

Stealership could find nothing wrong and I have had no problems other than it being embarrassing.

Have you gotten under the car to find the source? I would hate for you to pull your motor and find that you have a nice tight rear main seal and aluminum oil separator plate......

[slaytalera]

Do you have a 4EAT?

When my car was dripping oil out of the valve covers and down on to the exhaust, there was hardly any smoke - but when I had A/T fluid coming out of the top of my tranny, it smoked like a banshee going uphill . There is a little tube on the top of the tranny (like on top of a solenoid) that was spitting fluid out that ended up on the exhaust. This only happened going uphill with a full car, at highway speeds.

Stealership could find nothing wrong and I have had no problems other than it being embarrassing.

Have you gotten under the car to find the source? I would hate for you to pull your motor and find that you have a nice tight rear main seal and aluminum oil separator plate......

yes i do have a 4EAT. Im due for an oil change in a couple weeks, ill take pics of where the oil is leaking onto and post in this thread