February 23, 200620 yr I'm halfway through my timing belt job, letting it sit while ordering parts. I ordered the oil pump O-ring, only a buck, but do I really need to do this? The pump is glued on, looks like a pain, and the O-ring is very unlikely to fail. The guy at 1stSubaru mentioned the oil pump bolt issue, which I'm familiar with as a BMW owner. I did a search and found little on this forum about oil pump bolts, one mention of checking them while replacing the O-ring. Is it perhaps a problem Subaru fixed before my engine was produced? Any hints on getting this pump loose if I need to? Haynes simply says "Remove the mounting bolts and the oil pump". I have plenty of tools and a dry garage, just not much time to get to it. Scott Holland, MI '99 Legacy Brighton 2.2l - manual everything - 87k
February 23, 200620 yr Didn't see the oil pump plate screws loose on either of my 92 2.2 or 97 2.5 engines when I replaced the O rings. I replaced them "since I was there"....well, the 2.5 needed a new front crankshaft seal that was bleeding like a stuck pig:dead: ok stuck bananna so since I was there went ahead with the new O ring and seal. Remove the bolts, and you might have to lightly...lightly now is the key word here.....tap around the oil pump with a rubber mallet. It should come off fairly easy. Clean the mating surfaces really well, I like a piece of the red scotchbright and carb cleaner to clean things....lightly....., tap the new seal in the pump housing, stick a little oil or grease on the new O ring, stick that pup in the engine block, use an anaerobic sealent as the Haynes manual outlines and carefully place the housing onto the crank and watch that front seal---you don't want the spring that is a part of the seal to "pop out" of its groove as you are sliding it up and onto the crank. Take your time, rest assured you been there done that!
February 23, 200620 yr The aforementioned issue of the backing plate screws is what I think the real issue is here. If those are loose, you will lose oil pressure. I just resealed my oil pump on my Legacy last weekend, and those screws were so tight I couldn't get them loose. I almost started to strip out one of the screws and then I just decided to leave it alone. Agree 100% with watching the front seal when you reinstall the pump!! I pushed my pump all the way on, and as soon as I did that, the spring in the seal poked out and stuck to the keyway on the crank! I cursed loudly (as I usually do ), and hurried as fast as I could to reinstall the spring back in the seal... Realize that the RTV sealant on the pump was slowly drying this whole time!!! I got it though, and reinstalled the pump more carefully. Everything seems to be fine so far.
February 23, 200620 yr Author So you installed the front seal on the oil pump then installed the pump? Would you install the pump first next time?
February 23, 200620 yr The backing plate screws should be check on EVERY Legacy oil pump. Subaru claims it is only a problem on the 2.5L, but I have seen many loose on 2.2's also. I always remove them and reinstall with red locktite. As you are looking at the oil pump from the front of the car, there is a spot on top left, and on right side about the middle of the pump houseing that you can get a screw driver or pry bar behind to get the pump off. I always install the pump first then install new crank seal. This way you don't have to worry about ruining your new seal.
February 23, 200620 yr my 2.2L was loose... tightend em right up, threw it back in, and away i went. no problems since.. well.. problems with leaking oul
February 23, 200620 yr Several of my bolts had fallen out of my oil pump on my 1994 540i when I had the oil pan removed. I hope this won't be a subaru problem.
February 24, 200620 yr So you installed the front seal on the oil pump then installed the pump? Would you install the pump first next time? Yes, and yes.
December 7, 201312 yr Old topic but I just took off a oil pump from a Ej22 to measure the rotor clearance and I had two of the screws loose, motor has 192K on it and is a '95 btw pump still checked out perfect.
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