Subaru Legacy owner here with FB25 engine. Had the same problem and ended removing the engine to find the problem. In the upper oil pan there are three O rings that can cause the problem. Anyway I replaced the head gaskets, O rings , put everything together. its been three days no oil in the water. Fingers crossed
New Radiator Solved My Problem! This is my Subaru FB25 engine oil in coolant solution which is working so far! Hi all, I have a 2014 Subaru outback 2.4L with 180k miles which had oil in coolant problem. I had no obviously visible oil leaks around the head gasket. Went ahead and replaced all the coolant hoses, seals and the plastic crossover union connector (Spent $750 on parts, materials and few tools needed). Spend a weekend flushing water through the engine and radiator to clean out any remaining oil. Noticed small amounts of oil kept flushing out even after hours of flushing fresh water and sometimes using dawn dishwashing detergent. Cleaned everything up and put it all back together with new the parts and still had oil showing up in fresh coolant (frustrating!). Thought long and hard about the issue and how no water was getting into engine oil. As a last resort prior to replacing the head gaskets, got a new OEM Subaru radiator ($275 online) and changed it out. The CVT transmission, which uses a form of oil and not traditional tranny fluid, have cooling lines that pass through a small linear radiator built into the bottom of the larger radiator. I cut the old radiator apart today and found residual oil stuck to the inside of the plastic portion of the radiator around one of the two connections of the CVT lines into the larger radiator. No CVT fluid was leaking outside the radiator connection, only inside. The CVT aluminum hose connector part has a gasket and o-ring that are intended to seal that connector to the plastic portion of the radiator. The other CVT connection inside the radiator showed no residual oil and was perfectly clean only 15" away from the other connector. There was my problem and my fix! If it starts leaking oil into the coolant again, I will repost an update to this video. So my suggestion when all other solutions have failed, try a complete new radiator prior to going down the road of a new head gasket on the FB25 engine. Hope this helps you to solve your problem!
That's good advice, I would say the same. Most times, it's gonna be that Trans cooler leaking. I think I posted in another video of taking a sample of Trans fluid and adding into vehicle coolant for comparison. This car definitely had engine oil in the coolant.
Yes! I am couple weeks into my new radiator and not a drop of CVT or oil in the coolant since. I am very confident it was in fact CVT fluid and not engine oil.
UPDATE: After 5 weeks of perfectly clearn coolant with the new $275 OEM radiator, the same oil started to show in my coolant. It didn't just start slowly either, it was just as bad as the original radiator from 2014 pretty much overnight. Replaced the new OEM Subaru radiator with $60 amazon radiator and again perfectly clean coolant now for two weeks. Pressure tested the internal CVT cooler of replacement OEM radiator and won't hold pressure. Clearly it did hold pressure for 5 weeks and failed. I'm going to bypass the internal cooler and just have an aftermarket add on external CVT cooler and be done with this problem for ever. If you are wondering, the $60 amazon radiator has a slightly different set up of the CVT cooler connections than the OEM. They look cheaper than the OEM but they work for now and are holding back the CVT fluid. Now you know why Subaru moved the CVT cooler out of the radiator starting in 2015 and replaced it with a external heat exchanger
@@RulandoXthanks for the update, I still have yet to fix my car. So, the failure point is the design of the CVT cooler integrated into the OEM radiator causing an internal leak even after replacing it with a brand-new radiator? Did you do a transmission oil change along with the radiator replacement? And I assumed the only way to permanently fix it is to install an external transmission cooler? Thanks
I have oil in my coolant but no coolant in my oil. It started when I had an o-ring failure at the top of the engine where the air intake meets the engine. The 4 air intakes that meet the engine after the throttle body I believe caused this. I took it apart and replaced the o-rings. I just have to do a coolant flush now
Thanks for the video! Just looked to buy a 2018 Suburu Crosstrek (80k odo.) today, but found creamy brown oil mixed into the coolant in the overflow tank!
My Forester is a 2.0 DOHC FB20 but does not have a radiator attached for CVT, instead it has a separeted oil cooler (like a small rounded pan with four outlets, 2 for colant and 2 for transmission oil) it is at the right side of the engine bay. Besides doing a vacuum testing on that (which I'm doing today) I´d already done the other two suggestion you made (thanks for that BTW) and still getting the water mixing with the CVT oil. Later I will let you guys know the result about the vacuum test of the oil cooler pan component (my last hope). But before that I would like to let you know that I did a little bit different about the o-rings. Instead of completely remove the engine I found that removing the front wheel train from below was actually an easy way to access and remove the engine bottom panel to replace the o-rings.
@guaracymendes490 I just used a small container of clean antifreeze and dropped oil from the dipstick into it to make sure I was going down the correct rabbit hole.
Well, I did test the CVT oil cooler using a vacuum machine and it was damaged, letting the transmission oil mixing with the cooling fluid before it went back to the system. Now is about getting a new one and cleaning up the whole system again to fix it for good this time, hopefuly.
Upper oil pan o-rings need replacing. This can be done while the motors in the car. There are two studs at the back of the upper oil pan that go into the transmission remove those bolts and or cut the ends and you're good.
I used some Subaru coolant in clean containers, added a couple drops of the engine oil in one, and a couple drops trans fluid in the other to verify that it was engine oil. It may be that the right bank cylinder head gasket is allowing oil to weep through into the coolant. The cooling system is under less pressure than the oiling system, which is why coolant might not go the other way👍
I have a 2015 subaru impresario, the Trans fluid cooler is on the right side of the engine back by the Trans, I had a lot of oil I'm my radiator, change that and it did fix it. But now 6 months later I again have a lot of oil in my coolant. Did the cheap trans cooler Crack already???
I used 2 fluid containers of fresh Subaru coolant, then added a sample of engine oil into one and trans fluid to another to verify my problem was, in fact, engine oil in the coolant
I have same problem with my Subaru XV 2012 model CVT. Just a month ago I replaced Radiator tank due to same problem. But today I found again oil content in coolant in the radiator and the cap started corrosion. How canfix this problem permanently? 😪. Please help
This engine has a main oil galley going into the right side cylinder head. The head gasket may have failed there. On the engine I was working on, it looked like the block may have had some porosity through that galley into the water jacket, so the short block was replaced. At the time of the video, a short block from Subaru was about $2200 + a full gasket set at about $450.
@germancastillo8478 when I recorded this, there was absolutely no information on this problem. Some have come forward and said the upper oil pan seals leak, and in this case, I think it was the right side cylinder head gasket.
@@happygarage6310 so far all i have done is flush the system replaced the soft rubber and will monitor, the last one i had just seen 4k miles ago with no issues, 109k on the odo. let me know if your tear down reveals anything
@kittyjessica4943 it could be. Oil cooler failures happen. And because oil pressure is higher than cooling system pressure, coolant may not enter the oil
thanks for video but you dont need test you can just drain oil and check if you have coolant in ur oil So if you have coolant in ur oil then its head gasket 100%
@@happygarage6310 i mean some people thinking its head gasket but if no coolant in your engine oil only oil in coolant then its not head gasket ) i got car from auction today and i have oil in radiator trying to find what the problem (
@Nuclear8800 Well, the right side head has a pressurized oil passage going in. The gasket may fail, allowing some oil from that passage, which may have as much as 100psi of oil pressure during cold idle, seep though. Coolant may not pass because the cooling system pressure is usually below 25psi at operating temperature. That car got a short block because, ultimately, it's a business, and no customer would be happy if they had the same problem after spending thousands on gasket replacement.
We ended up replacing the short block. There was no obvious gasket problem, and there were no documented cases to lead otherwise. And the short block isn't much more work once the heads are off. it's not all that expensive either.
Subaru Legacy owner here with FB25 engine. Had the same problem and ended removing the engine to find the problem.
In the upper oil pan there are three O rings that can cause the problem. Anyway I replaced the head gaskets, O rings , put everything together. its been three days no oil in the water. Fingers crossed
Update?
Sold the car after 3 months. Zero issues. Was actually impressed with myself
@@gotze1772 hell yeah.
New Radiator Solved My Problem! This is my Subaru FB25 engine oil in coolant solution which is working so far! Hi all, I have a 2014 Subaru outback 2.4L with 180k miles which had oil in coolant problem. I had no obviously visible oil leaks around the head gasket. Went ahead and replaced all the coolant hoses, seals and the plastic crossover union connector (Spent $750 on parts, materials and few tools needed). Spend a weekend flushing water through the engine and radiator to clean out any remaining oil. Noticed small amounts of oil kept flushing out even after hours of flushing fresh water and sometimes using dawn dishwashing detergent. Cleaned everything up and put it all back together with new the parts and still had oil showing up in fresh coolant (frustrating!). Thought long and hard about the issue and how no water was getting into engine oil. As a last resort prior to replacing the head gaskets, got a new OEM Subaru radiator ($275 online) and changed it out. The CVT transmission, which uses a form of oil and not traditional tranny fluid, have cooling lines that pass through a small linear radiator built into the bottom of the larger radiator. I cut the old radiator apart today and found residual oil stuck to the inside of the plastic portion of the radiator around one of the two connections of the CVT lines into the larger radiator. No CVT fluid was leaking outside the radiator connection, only inside. The CVT aluminum hose connector part has a gasket and o-ring that are intended to seal that connector to the plastic portion of the radiator. The other CVT connection inside the radiator showed no residual oil and was perfectly clean only 15" away from the other connector. There was my problem and my fix! If it starts leaking oil into the coolant again, I will repost an update to this video. So my suggestion when all other solutions have failed, try a complete new radiator prior to going down the road of a new head gasket on the FB25 engine. Hope this helps you to solve your problem!
That's good advice, I would say the same. Most times, it's gonna be that Trans cooler leaking. I think I posted in another video of taking a sample of Trans fluid and adding into vehicle coolant for comparison. This car definitely had engine oil in the coolant.
Experiencing the same problem, did that new radiator solve the problem?
Yes! I am couple weeks into my new radiator and not a drop of CVT or oil in the coolant since. I am very confident it was in fact CVT fluid and not engine oil.
UPDATE: After 5 weeks of perfectly clearn coolant with the new $275 OEM radiator, the same oil started to show in my coolant. It didn't just start slowly either, it was just as bad as the original radiator from 2014 pretty much overnight. Replaced the new OEM Subaru radiator with $60 amazon radiator and again perfectly clean coolant now for two weeks. Pressure tested the internal CVT cooler of replacement OEM radiator and won't hold pressure. Clearly it did hold pressure for 5 weeks and failed. I'm going to bypass the internal cooler and just have an aftermarket add on external CVT cooler and be done with this problem for ever. If you are wondering, the $60 amazon radiator has a slightly different set up of the CVT cooler connections than the OEM. They look cheaper than the OEM but they work for now and are holding back the CVT fluid. Now you know why Subaru moved the CVT cooler out of the radiator starting in 2015 and replaced it with a external heat exchanger
@@RulandoXthanks for the update, I still have yet to fix my car. So, the failure point is the design of the CVT cooler integrated into the OEM radiator causing an internal leak even after replacing it with a brand-new radiator? Did you do a transmission oil change along with the radiator replacement? And I assumed the only way to permanently fix it is to install an external transmission cooler? Thanks
I have oil in my coolant but no coolant in my oil. It started when I had an o-ring failure at the top of the engine where the air intake meets the engine. The 4 air intakes that meet the engine after the throttle body I believe caused this. I took it apart and replaced the o-rings.
I just have to do a coolant flush now
Thanks for the video! Just looked to buy a 2018 Suburu Crosstrek (80k odo.) today, but found creamy brown oil mixed into the coolant in the overflow tank!
My Forester is a 2.0 DOHC FB20 but does not have a radiator attached for CVT, instead it has a separeted oil cooler (like a small rounded pan with four outlets, 2 for colant and 2 for transmission oil) it is at the right side of the engine bay. Besides doing a vacuum testing on that (which I'm doing today) I´d already done the other two suggestion you made (thanks for that BTW) and still getting the water mixing with the CVT oil. Later I will let you guys know the result about the vacuum test of the oil cooler pan component (my last hope).
But before that I would like to let you know that I did a little bit different about the o-rings. Instead of completely remove the engine I found that removing the front wheel train from below was actually an easy way to access and remove the engine bottom panel to replace the o-rings.
@guaracymendes490 I just used a small container of clean antifreeze and dropped oil from the dipstick into it to make sure I was going down the correct rabbit hole.
Well, I did test the CVT oil cooler using a vacuum machine and it was damaged, letting the transmission oil mixing with the cooling fluid before it went back to the system. Now is about getting a new one and cleaning up the whole system again to fix it for good this time, hopefuly.
Upper oil pan o-rings need replacing.
This can be done while the motors in the car. There are two studs at the back of the upper oil pan that go into the transmission remove those bolts and or cut the ends and you're good.
I may have considered that if the engine also had coolant in the oil. Thanks for the tip.
@@happygarage6310 it only gets the oil in the coolant
@@happygarage6310 when it does it will destroy the whole cooling system and every hose related
@maxeisenhardt4466 I had no idea about those seals leaking. Thank you again
I have a Japan import and found oil residue in the rad.... drained it and refill, no oil since
If it were a personal vehicle, I definitely would go that route. Customers don't like to spend money and have an issue later, though.
@@happygarage6310 it's is actually my personal vehicle....a 2013 legacy 2.5i premium eyesight with 46,000km
My 1999 fire bird 3800 v 6 is doing the same thing
I have to replace my head gaskets because I'm getting oil in the coolant
Hi. Have you figured out where the oil is coming from ?
I have a 2017 Subaru Forester 2.5I premium and have this same issue
I just wished u could’ve got to the point a lot faster
Owner of a 2014 Subaru Impreza with oil in my overflow coolant tank and radiator but no sign of water in the oil or the transmission
I used some Subaru coolant in clean containers, added a couple drops of the engine oil in one, and a couple drops trans fluid in the other to verify that it was engine oil. It may be that the right bank cylinder head gasket is allowing oil to weep through into the coolant. The cooling system is under less pressure than the oiling system, which is why coolant might not go the other way👍
Hello, so what did you find?
I have a 2015 subaru impresario, the Trans fluid cooler is on the right side of the engine back by the Trans, I had a lot of oil I'm my radiator, change that and it did fix it. But now 6 months later I again have a lot of oil in my coolant. Did the cheap trans cooler Crack already???
I used 2 fluid containers of fresh Subaru coolant, then added a sample of engine oil into one and trans fluid to another to verify my problem was, in fact, engine oil in the coolant
I have same problem with my Subaru XV 2012 model CVT. Just a month ago I replaced Radiator tank due to same problem. But today I found again oil content in coolant in the radiator and the cap started corrosion. How canfix this problem permanently? 😪. Please help
This engine has a main oil galley going into the right side cylinder head. The head gasket may have failed there. On the engine I was working on, it looked like the block may have had some porosity through that galley into the water jacket, so the short block was replaced. At the time of the video, a short block from Subaru was about $2200 + a full gasket set at about $450.
You gotta replace head gaskets
so what is the video about? seen pointless, i was looking for an answer but i guess i go back where i started
@germancastillo8478 when I recorded this, there was absolutely no information on this problem. Some have come forward and said the upper oil pan seals leak, and in this case, I think it was the right side cylinder head gasket.
@@happygarage6310 thank you
I HAVE NOW SEEN THREE OF THESE AND AM AS CONFUSED AS YOU
Yeah, sometimes we come across the strange stuff.
@@happygarage6310 so far all i have done is flush the system replaced the soft rubber and will monitor, the last one i had just seen 4k miles ago with no issues, 109k on the odo. let me know if your tear down reveals anything
@@happygarage6310I have a 2008 Pontiac Grand Prix and supposedly it is the engine oil cooler is that true?!?
@kittyjessica4943 it could be. Oil cooler failures happen. And because oil pressure is higher than cooling system pressure, coolant may not enter the oil
Same here
thanks for video but you dont need test you can just drain oil and check if you have coolant in ur oil So if you have coolant in ur oil then its head gasket 100%
There was oil in the coolant only.
@@happygarage6310 i mean some people thinking its head gasket but if no coolant in your engine oil only oil in coolant then its not head gasket ) i got car from auction today and i have oil in radiator trying to find what the problem (
@@happygarage6310 119k mileage 2013 forester
@Nuclear8800 Well, the right side head has a pressurized oil passage going in. The gasket may fail, allowing some oil from that passage, which may have as much as 100psi of oil pressure during cold idle, seep though. Coolant may not pass because the cooling system pressure is usually below 25psi at operating temperature. That car got a short block because, ultimately, it's a business, and no customer would be happy if they had the same problem after spending thousands on gasket replacement.
@@happygarage6310you are absolutely right . Thanks alot
hey man same issue here, did you figure it out?
We ended up replacing the short block. There was no obvious gasket problem, and there were no documented cases to lead otherwise. And the short block isn't much more work once the heads are off. it's not all that expensive either.
update?
@bassnsane6280 sub head gaskets leak oil externally, hello, and this engine is not prone to HG issues---
Talk to much 😴😴😴