Being owner of a car is vital, we generally need it to get to our job and for almost all of our daily trips. This crucial part of our annual budget occasionally causes us surprises, being aware of oil leaking on your car is one of them… In reality, an oil leak is rarely harmless and can quickly lead to the breakage of your engine if you don’t recognize it. If you are aware of oil leaking on your Subaru Outback, you have come to the right page, we will first support you to find the origin of the oil leak and, secondly, we will help you to repair it, when possible.

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Identifying the origin of the oil leaking on your Subaru Outback

If you discover fluid leaking from under your Subaru Outback, the first move to make is to verify all of your levels (power steering, engine oil, brake fluid, coolant) to see if any of them can promptly be recognized as the source of the leak. To limit the risks, it is certainly necessary to verify your levels every 2 weeks to prevent any risk of engine breakage.
In our case we will only be focused on case you find oil leaking from your Subaru Outback, as far as engine oil is concerned, the liquid will be quite viscous and in shades of brown to black and if it is gearbox oil, it will be rather in amber tones and will have a strong uneasy smell.
It’s not always easy to find the origin of the oil that leaks on a Subaru Outback because of the room in the engine block, even so here are the simple steps to adhere to to find the source of the oil:

  • Find the point where the oil falls, the spot from which it leaks onto the ground…
  • Go back up the route of the dripping oil to its basis, if the blot is too large, don’t hesitate to clean the engine block and drive to have the ability to locate it easier.
  • To guide you, here is a list of the parts that mostly induce oil to leak from a car: the drain plug and its seal; one of your crankcase gaskets; the oil pressure switch; the oil filter; the transmission drain plug; the transmission sealing rings.

Whenever possible, fix the part that created the oil to leak on your Subaru Outback.

Now that you’ve found the origin of the oil leaking, it’s time to get down to business. Obviously, for a while, you’ll be able to add more oil to top up the level, according to its seriousness, but you should know that this is not a long lasting treatment and that the leak could become worse at any time. We are likely to demonstrate you the repairs that we think you can perform on your own with some knowledge, tools and according to the accessibility that you are going to have on your engine. In any case, you should know that after repairing an oil leak on a Subaru Outback, you will have to change your engine or gearbox oil.

Oil leakage from the drain plug and its seal on Subaru Outback

In this situation, the technique is quite easy, you just have to lift your Subaru Outback, if it is possible perfectly horizontal, remove your drain plug, drain your engine oil, change your drain gasket, tighten the plug to the perfect torque and verify the hot engine to make sure the leak has been fixed.

Oil leaking over from the oil filter of my Subaru Outback

In the event that your oil leak comes from your oil filter, you will only need to replace it. To achieve this, take a filter wrench, remove the old filter, being sure that the gasket does not stick to the engine, fit the new filter and tighten it moderately. Same test, hot check if oil is leaking from your Subaru Outback.

Oil leaking from the pressure switch of my Subaru Outback

To finish , if it is your pressure switch that is the cause of your leak on your Subaru Outback, you can, based on its ease of access, reach it and change it quickly. To get this done, set a drain tray under the part, disconnect the electrical wire, remove the part, quickly reposition the replacement pressure switch, clean the whole thing and do a hot test to ensure that you no longer have any oil leaking from your Subaru Outback.

For any other type of leak, we suggest you to go to your mechanic because the repair necessitates too much expertise and tools to be conducted serenely alone.

In the event that you have any further questions about the Subaru Outback, do not hesitate to consult our Subaru Outback category.