Started to get a horrible smell of burning oil a few days ago and when I checked I found a small leak dripping onto the exhaust cross-pipe. Looks as though it is coming from the centre of the cam cover. Pity 'cos I only changed the belt 10000 miles ago. Anyone guess at the likely cause? Is there a favourite seal to go - maybe on the front of the camshaft? Or something that doesn't mean taking the belt off (hopefull?)?

Graham

 

I had the exact same problem, sounds like the cam shaft oil seal.
It cost me £4 quid for a new seal, £70 for a new belt, total inc fitting £192 I think.....

Hope it helps

 

I would say it is most definitly the rocker cover gasket..... mine went a bit back.... and they often go aparently... could be wrong....

Dan

 

Rocker cover on mine....
Andyp

 

Sounds exactly like mine which was the crank seal. Speaking to the subaru dealers in my area & they say its quite common& can sometimes be caused by engine/oil breather pipes being blocked leading to a build up of pressure which forces oil past the seal & knackers it. Unfortunate that you just changed your cambelt as you could have done it then.

Dean

 

Sounds like mine which is the rocker cover gasket on the drivers side. This drips onto the exhaust and smells. Easy to fix & costs about £40 ish

 

If its leaking on the cross-pipe then i would say it is your front crank seal on not a rocker cover gasket. Although these are quite commen to leak, they leak on one of the end heatshields, not the one on the middle.

Luke

 

I had this on my MY98 it turned out to be front end seal on Crankshaft quite easily fixed at garage but had to change cambelt as it was contaminated with oil and could fail

[Edited by John Moore - 5/8/2002 11:18:08 PM]