Crankshaft seal on '99 Subaru Legacy gives out...any chance of warranty repair?

[David P]

The other day, my wife came home worried because her car was laying a huge
plume of smoke in its wake. I tried to check the oil, and seeing barely any
(and seeing a bunch of it on the ground under the car) got her immediately to
a local repair shop. They confirmed that the crankshaft seal had given out
(and the car was THIS CLOSE to being out of oil...) This shop wants $500 to
repair the seal, replace the timing belt, replace the oil pump (or at least the
seals on the oil pump) etc. That's about what the Subaru dealer quotes as well.

OK, now here are the questions:

1) I have been told by some people that a repair to the crankshaft seal would
be considered part of the drivetrain, and covered by the drivetrain warranty?
Is that true?

2) Car is 5 years and 1.5 weeks old, very low mileage (about <40,000 miles).
Drivetrain warranty is 5 years/50,000 miles. What do you think my chances are
of getting this done under some sort of grace period warranty if, in fact,
(1) is true?

3) Some stuff I've read has indicated that while this is not a particularly
difficult repair, it's labor intensive (hence the $500 bill). Also, that if
someone is not particularly familiar with Subarus there are a number of
possible "gotchas" in doing the repair that can lead to major headaches shortly
down the road. Is this true? If so, I guess I will go with the dealer, even
though I get a better feeling about competency and honesty from the local
mechanic than I do from the local Subaru service shop.

Thanks,

David

 

[Jim Stewart]

The other day, my wife came home worried because her car was laying a huge
plume of smoke in its wake. I tried to check the oil, and seeing barely any
(and seeing a bunch of it on the ground under the car) got her immediately to
a local repair shop. They confirmed that the crankshaft seal had given out
(and the car was THIS CLOSE to being out of oil...) This shop wants $500 to
repair the seal, replace the timing belt, replace the oil pump (or at least the
seals on the oil pump) etc. That's about what the Subaru dealer quotes as well.

OK, now here are the questions:

1) I have been told by some people that a repair to the crankshaft seal would
be considered part of the drivetrain, and covered by the drivetrain warranty?
Is that true?

2) Car is 5 years and 1.5 weeks old, very low mileage (about <40,000 miles).
Drivetrain warranty is 5 years/50,000 miles. What do you think my chances are
of getting this done under some sort of grace period warranty if, in fact,
(1) is true?

1 & 2 Not very likely. Mine is 4 years/85k and I was told
by several, not a chance.

3) Some stuff I've read has indicated that while this is not a particularly
difficult repair, it's labor intensive (hence the $500 bill). Also, that if
someone is not particularly familiar with Subarus there are a number of
possible "gotchas" in doing the repair that can lead to major headaches shortly
down the road. Is this true? If so, I guess I will go with the dealer, even
though I get a better feeling about competency and honesty from the local
mechanic than I do from the local Subaru service shop.

See my post "Yet another timing belt story" I put it up
Sunday. If you can't find it, confirm your email address
and I'll send it to you. I don't think there are that many
gotchas that will hurt you down the road, just a lot of
labor and detail intensive tasks. Any independent shop
should be able to do it. Make sure that they understand
to remove the oil pump, locktite the 5 screws, and change
both the seal and the o-ring.

There's good arguments for replacing the timing belt tensioner,
the camshaft seals, the water pump and all the belts while
you're in there.

 

[Rob Munach]

The other day, my wife came home worried because her car was laying a huge
plume of smoke in its wake. I tried to check the oil, and seeing barely any
(and seeing a bunch of it on the ground under the car) got her immediately to
a local repair shop. They confirmed that the crankshaft seal had given out
(and the car was THIS CLOSE to being out of oil...) This shop wants $500 to
repair the seal, replace the timing belt, replace the oil pump (or at least the
seals on the oil pump) etc. That's about what the Subaru dealer quotes as well.

OK, now here are the questions:

1) I have been told by some people that a repair to the crankshaft seal would
be considered part of the drivetrain, and covered by the drivetrain warranty?
Is that true?

2) Car is 5 years and 1.5 weeks old, very low mileage (about <40,000 miles).
Drivetrain warranty is 5 years/50,000 miles. What do you think my chances are
of getting this done under some sort of grace period warranty if, in fact,
(1) is true?

3) Some stuff I've read has indicated that while this is not a particularly
difficult repair, it's labor intensive (hence the $500 bill). Also, that if
someone is not particularly familiar with Subarus there are a number of
possible "gotchas" in doing the repair that can lead to major headaches shortly
down the road. Is this true? If so, I guess I will go with the dealer, even
though I get a better feeling about competency and honesty from the local
mechanic than I do from the local Subaru service shop.

Thanks,

David

I would consider it part of the powertrain. Weather they will honor it
10 days after the expiration date is another question. I just had Apple
deny coverage on my my Ibook that was 2 days out of warranty. I also
just had auto zone deny a battery warranty that was 1 day out!
I would go with the dealer for that repair.

 

[Alan]

If you've been a loyal customer of the dealer, they will likely cover it
under the warrantee. Otherwise, well, it can't hurt to ask...

 

[Joaquin Rosario]

Contact Subaru of America and see what they can do.
They might be able to "pre-aprove" the repair and refer you
to a local dealer.

I have heard from my Subaru dealer on multiple occasions that
Subaru dealers have some wiggle room when it comes to waranty
repairs. If a problem arises after the waranty limit, they
can pursuade Subaru to approve the repair if it's 100 miles over the
coverage limit. When it comes to time limits, I think the same logic should
apply.

I would say that you have a 50/50 chance in getting Subaru to extend the
waranty coverage, just for this case.

Best wishes!

J Rosario