I was just told by the mechanic that I need a new main seal on a used car I just purchased: 2006 Subaru Forester 2.5XT turbo 139k miles. He said that he can see the oil when he looked under the car. How can I verify that's an issue - I haven't noticed any oil myself, should I be looking for oil drips under the car or a burning oil smell?
Seems like an expensive job so I don't want him to pull out the transmission and get into it if it's not totally necessary.
Take a second opinion, as always.
To see if it needs replacement; reverse the car 20ft. If there is a pool of oil where the car has been sitting, you should find out where it is coming from and fix it. If not, don't worry.
The rear main seal does give way occasionally, but as you say - it's an expensive job if that's the only thing you're doing. $12 for the seal, and $1000 to remove the engine so you can get at it. If you have the engine out anyway for any other reason (e.g for the head gaskets), then that's the perfect time to replacement (amongst other parts).
When did the car last have it's timing belt changed? That needs to be done regularly every 105,000 miles, and if you don't have documentation of that, then that's where I'd be putting my money at the moment.
