Well the past few days my 98 OBW has been doing dry starts first thing in the morning, so it knocks for about 2-4 seconds then builds oil pressure and the knock goes away, my EA -81 used to do this too, i was told that it was just a common thing and to not worry. So is this the case with EJ25 as well? or am i in need of a new oil pump. The car has 181,000 on the clock.

You need to put a mechanical gauge on the car to find out, and also check the quality of the oil.

 

When was the lats time you changed a pcv valve

How is your bas mileage

What is your oil change interval

 

 

Nipper

Given that i purchaced her about a month ago, im not sure on the PCV, however i will have a look tonight when i check the timing belt, oil change is set at every 3000mi, and i have 2,000 to go, it has 5-30 in it now, pensoil i think. Gas milage is 25-24mpg

we used 5-30 at the Subie dealer were i work for all Subarus...however i felt it was always better to use a little heavier weight when you have a high mileage car.....i put 10-30 in my legacy......PCV is only a few bucks and a few turns of a 19mm so i would throw one on (cant hurt at that mileage)

Since its an EJ25, is it possible it's piston slap that he hears? Or am I way off,haha. I really haven't played with the 2.5's.

Since its an EJ25, is it possible it's piston slap that he hears? [...]

Piston slap certainly can happen, but more typically in colder weather.

 

However, I wonder about the oil pump sealing. Loose screws?

I think that im gonna try some 10-30 highmilage oil and see how things turn out, but keep thos ideas comming!

If it has a poorly constructed oil filter on it, this can cause dry starts. the only real check-valve in the oil system is the anti-drainback valve inside the filter which is meant to keep the oil galleries in the engine full after you shut it off. Swap out the filter for a higher quality one, and see if that helps.

 

Piston slap takes more than 3-4 seconds to go away. More like minutes.

Just in case...

I suggest that you do a search here, or Google "Subaru loose oil pump screws" and read a few articles that come up there.

 

You might find these interesting:

 

http://www.motor.com/magazine/pdfs/092001_08.pdf

See "Watch Those Pump Screws!".

 

http://endwrench.com/images/pdfs/TBeltEWWin05.pdf

well given that i checked that timing belt before i took a 300 mile trip, it still says subaru on it and is covered in oil, i think its just time to pull my engine out and go through it, there is oil and dirt 1/8 inch on the inside of the cover tells me that its been a while since its been changed and the front seal is out

Definitely time to seal things up. Because oil and stuff on that belt will really weaken it. And you don't want worse to happen if you let it go.

well given that i checked that timing belt before i took a 300 mile trip, it still says subaru on it and is covered in oil, i think its just time to pull my engine out and go through it, there is oil and dirt 1/8 inch on the inside of the cover tells me that its been a while since its been changed and the front seal is out

Besides the need to check the pump sealing (due to both the oil pressure and leakage issues), make sure that the PCV valve and associated hoses aren't gunked up, since excessive crankcase pressure can force oil past seals.