June 4, 201312 yr Rebuilt it yesterday, swapped it out today. Drove it a few miles home, and it didn't make it. Stalled three times, the third time it didn't restart. Started making noises... Maybe piston slapping or knocking on restart. According to my Defi gauge, the oil pressure started fine, but gradually dropped off.
June 5, 201312 yr Oil pressure decreases as the engine warms. Spec for an EJ is only 10-12 psi at warm idle. If its below that you got problems. Knocking sounds and stalling are a bad omen.
June 5, 201312 yr Min spec for most engines is generally 10 PSI per 1k RPM up to 4k RPM. So basically 40 PSI at 4k min and 10psi at idle.. The EJ engines spec is right on that edge where if bad things happen, the bearings don't have much time left. Edited June 5, 201312 yr by matt167
June 5, 201312 yr Author I've had these gauges for a long time, so I know what I normally run at. And I was below that. Kept hitting 0 at idle, and wouldn't go above 2bar revving. Not normal.
June 5, 201312 yr I read of a guy that misrouted the breather hoses and the PCV vacuum hose on his STI. Had low oil pressure and even heard gurgling in the dipstick tube!
June 5, 201312 yr Author I just went back to the car(parked on the street 4 blocks from my apartment, where it died). Restarted just fine, didn't make the knocking noises. Oil pressure shot up to 6 bar like it usually does on cold start. So I guess now I'll tow it back to the shop, and poke around to see what is wrong. Possibly something got down in the engine when I had it apart? Maybe a piece of paper towel or something fell down and got sucked up by the oil strainer. Double check all my hose routings as well. I feel better knowing it restarted fine cold though.
June 6, 201312 yr Author Started the car up this morning, and it started fine. Drove it 2 blocks to get it in a position to tow it back to the shop. I definitely forgot to torque the intake manifold on properly. So that probably accounts for half of the problems. Next I need to drain the oil, and see if anything shows up there. The engine sounded fine though this morning when I started it.
June 7, 201312 yr Author Looks like I'm just an idiot. After tightening the intake properly, I pulled the oil pan. Nothing there to cause oil problems. Put it all back together, and it is running fine again.
June 7, 201312 yr I will keep my fingers crossed that all is well. Hope you are good for many trouble free mile.s
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