dealer found engine oil seep, but I don't see any oil leaks on my 2011 Subaru forester

My suggestion would be to ask the dealership service advisor you’re working with to show you what they are calling a seap. It is common for heads to start leaking and showing a wet almost metallic spot. A head gasket job at a dealership should be 12-14 hours of labor tops and that’s on the rather high end. 11 hours of labor is fair. On your motor specificly doing the heads also includes resealing the cam carriers, valve covers, and front cover at the very minimum. Subaru seals most of the motor with RTV which has to be cleaned off completely before reassembly can happen otherwise it will leak instantly. This is very tidious and time consuming task this is why the labor time is so high. Some suggestions is verifiy that the leak is truly the head gaskets. Many times leaking cam carriers are misdiagnosed as heads leaking. Your car has a bulletin out for a design change to the upper oil pan assembly to provide better sealing and prevent leaking. Where the upper oil pan commonly leaks is right next to the head gaskets and can easily be misdiagnosed as well. Call Subaru customer relations and tell them how Much you love your forester and want to keep it and ask if they can help out with any of the costs. Doing this usually gets you positive results. As to you wondering why you don’t see any drips is because most likely any little amount that might be dripping is landing on the front cradle or the exhaust and you’re not going to see it. If you have anymore questions let me know hope this helps

A small oil seep can be lived with indefinitely. Unless you have oil spots in the drive way I would leave it alone. How many miles on the car?

BTW Be extremely wary of dealers that seal up the engine with RTV. My first new engine replacement only lasted a few thousand miles because the dealer used too much silicone. The excess blocked oil passages and ruined every single moving part in the engine as well as the block and heads!!! The dealer that build the second new engine has a map of the engine that tells his mechanics where to put RTV and where not to as well as how much. This engine is a good one and has lasted.

My 2011 Subaru has only about 55,000 miles.

I might complain to SOA and tell them of this issue. You may get a goodwill repair.

It’s not the dealership that says use RTV the manufacturer does.