are these worth fitting,may need to change crank seal so was considering upgrading to a roger clarke pump but funds a bit tight so was considering just refitting original,Car has 88k on clock

 

You don't need to remove the oip pump to change the Crank shaft seal
I'd leave it unless you have the cash

 

no, but you have removed that much by the time you get to the pump, that for the extra 5 or 6 bolts its worth doing (if you can afford it)

Ball ache if 3 months down the line you want to uprate the pump.

 

I think Andyf said he installed one following the "hype" and his oil pressure was actually lower afterwards! I gather (only from reading stuff) the main benefit is the altered pressure release valve which has "apparently" been known to stick.

Would be good to find out if there is any truth / ratio of engine failures blamed on this fault / have Subaru not amended the oil pump design over the years to fix this? or is it just snake oil?

Comments?

 

Reported engine failures due to oil pump failing seemed to be biased to those that had just, for the first time or so, enjoyed a top speed run somewhere, and then shortly after engine failed.

Theory was that the oil pressure releif valve moves up and down it's tube, but only so far in normal use, and when at flat out wide open throttle under load / top gear it moves up the tube farther where it hasn't before, and as the tube is not worn in as much the valve can stick.

Not sure of what is modified in these uprated pumps from several suppliers but it is supposed to rectify this [potential issue, IIRC.

 

I know of one very well known engine builder that always changes
the oil pump for a modified/uprated version whenever a full rebuild
is done.

It helps preserve the life of the big end bearings, so Iv'e been told.

Rob

 

The modification is a smooth wall pressure relief plunger, which is very expensive to make because it has to be surface ground to very precise tollerances...

If you want to do anything, and save yourself some money, can I suggest that you pull your pump off the car, strip down the relief plunger assembly and give it a good clean out. While the pump is off check the tightness of the backing plate screws (the plate covers the actual pump gear mechanism) you should not be able to undo them without an impact driver. If they can be undone, remove them all, clean the pump gears and then when you put it all back together tighten those screws with an impact driver

 

Ta for the info guys, So I just need to make sure I do regular 160Mph runs then to keep that tube worn in

Intrested if anyone had the uprated oil pump but still sufferd an engine die in a similar way?

 

It's a subaru engine, they all die, some just sooner rather than later

If you can afford it the uprated pump should eliminate one for the problems with the oil systems that some cars have suffered from...tbh it's not going to prevent your engine from throwing the towel in completely, just stop it from doing so in one of the more common ways.

If you look after the car properly, don't rag it stupid and don't try to push it beyond it's design criteria then there's no reason a Subaru engine can't go over 200k miles without issue...but if you do like to tune it and rag it within an inch of it's life expect it to let go

 

cheers for the advice,I don't hammer the engine so will just replace the original just thought the failure was more common than it seems.