Oil change leak

[alwaysright]

New ‘23 legacy, did my first oil change between 3500-4000 miles.  

there was no crush washer on the drain plug as there was with my ‘15 limited.  I had some, so I used one. Both 2.5L NA motors.

now it appears I have a significant leak.  This is the 2nd time since the oil change I’ve had a pool of oil under the car.  

oil not coming from filter, I’m using a purolater pure one and QS 0w20 full synthetic which I used on my ‘15 up to 197k when I sold it, never any issues

Dip stick still reads right at the full mark, just a hair over, but not worth draining, I am aware overfilling is a problem.

anyone else experience anything like this?

[silverton]

At the factory the pans have the drain plug installed, with gasket, and then are painted. So the gasket gets painted on to the drain plug.  I use trim pin removal pliers to take it off.  Double gasket could cause a leak, but not one this significant.  With that large of an oil slick, and your engine oil dipstick is still reading full, it may not be engine oil.

I'm seen several cars come through my shop getting their first oil change around 4-6,000 miles with significant oil leaks that needs to be handled under warranty.  If your vehicle is under a factory warranty I suggest having a shop do it so there is record of you doing oil changes, otherwise SOA will tell you to kick rocks.

[alwaysright]

Helpful thanks, I looked at the pan and it looked like a machine finish on the pan but I could have been mistaken as the washer might look similar as it’s just flat metal.  I’ll check next change and just monitor the situation.  Cleaned up, it’s definitely motor oil.  I think it looked worse than it was, been looking at work too and haven’t seen any spots there.  It’s only happened twice since my first oil change 2 weeks ago.  Never happened from the factory.  We did go from 85+ to 55 last night as a storm came through.  I’m pretty sure I’ve got a double washer situation.  I’m definitely going to keep an eye on it.  I’ve got ext warranty as I’m going to run this car to almost 200k as well, not going to jeopardize that.

[MoleMan]

OP,

Looks like you are doing your own oil change. That's great. However with a new car I would do one thing different. Do not use a Purolator filter.  I used a Boss once in my G37.  This filter does not like high performance engines at all.  It may talk a good game but it's really a crap filter for any HP engine.  As much as I have to admit it a Fram Ultra is a better bet since Subaru Filters(Except for us EZ30 and 36 guys we get the nice Roki ones) are made by Fram.  Subarus are awkward requiring certain PSI pressures so even a factory filter would be best.  Since it's under warranty I would just stick with a factory TBH.  All my other cars besides my Subies I prefer Mobil 1 filters.

 

If your oil is full that as Silverton has pointed out it may be something else(Thinking CVT fluid?). But if it's leaving pools oif fluid I would bring it in to a dealer as once again the dipstick is full.  Only other thing I can think of is that it's water discharge from the A/C system. 

If you have ramps I would inspect ihe underside for any leaks before bringing it in. 

[RumblyXT]

I remember seeing something about an oil leak on the new Outbacks.. looks like they were actually overfilled and/or actually bad oil pan sealant no applied correctly! Here's the video:

 

Edited July 22, 2023 by RumblyXT

[alwaysright]

Thanks everyone for the help.  It ended up being the crush washer, I had added one as the first was stuck to the plug so we’ll it wouldn’t come off and painted so it just looked like part of the plug.  Actually embarrassed to admit it because I picked at it for 5 minutes and then wrongly assumed it was part of the plug.  All fixed now and no more leaks.  The second crush washer was badly deformed.  Thanks again everyone.

[RumblyXT]

Awesome! Glad it was not the oil pan sealant being applied wrong from factory.