Shattered oil pump at 65K miles
 

So this happened:

http://i315.photobucket.com/albums/l...459092_HDR.jpg

Oil pump shattered, immediately starving the bearings and causing one or more of them to spin. Looks like I'm getting a new motor.

What is with these engines and catastrophic failure under 100,000k. Yikes.

Double post?

that's the first i've seen OPG failure. or at least on this forum. it's actually pretty common in the coyote motor in the 5.0 mustangs, especially with FI. I'm surprised more manufacturers don't put billet gears in these things from the get go (especially on cars that they know will be run hard and in the upper RPM's). Seems like cheap insurance for them to prevent having to rebuild motors under warranty.

Same condition but different discussion points. This is tech the other is extended warranty. Makes sense really.

:thumbsup:

A lot of companies cheap out on one part when new, which bites them in the ass later on.

Take my previous car for example; 2008 BMW 335i. The N54 was an absolutely wonderful engine, but goddamn was it ever plagued with it's demons.

Specifically speaking, BMW cheaped out on the high pressure fuel pump, which led to a class-action law-suit, a massive recall of every model with the N54 engine, AND an extended 10-year warranty on the part itself. Probably ended up costing BMW way more all said and done than it saved by using a cheaper part initially.

Perhaps more frustrating, because BMW refuses to acknowledge this one, is the water-pump. You have a 3.0L inline 6 with TWIN TURBO and 300hp from the factory, in a performance-oriented vehicle, and you put in a water pump with a PLASTIC impeller?! This is mainly infuriating because, again, BMW refuses to acknowledge that it was a wide-spread issue, despite the fact that it was common knowledge amongst owners with this engine that your water pump WILL fail somewhere between 80,000 to 100,000km, like clock-work. Mine went at 105k. It's so bad that it was more of a "when" than an "if".

An even bigger admission of guilt is the fact that the replacement part used in the repair has an aluminum impeller.

Let's hope this OPG failure is an exception, and not a rule.

For the hundred thousand or so of these cars sold worldwide as a forum goer I've seen relatively few catastrophic failures at any mileage on a non-modified car.

Forum goers and Facebook posters tend to be enthusiasts who mod and break their cars while LOVING to talk about it. I'd be surprised if engine failure rates on these cars with fully stock engines, electronics and drive lines is anywhere close to being high or unexpected for a brand new platform.

Man that's terrible I'm sorry to hear that. Just out of curiosity what kind of oil are you using? Also follow up question did this happen on track?

+1.


Also, what area of the country do you live in? Does the car get exposed to high/low temperatures often?

I've been thinking about this, and I'm not certain mine is the first one. There have been several reports of spun bearings in the 60K to 70K mile range. I remember in one of them, the dealership said the spun bearing was the result of oil starvation but didn't explain how that was supposed to have happened. Since a spun bearing results in an engine swap anyway, I'm wondering how many of those might have actually resulted from oil pump issues without that detail ever being relayed to the customer.

When it happened to me, I knew immediately that I had spun a bearing just based on the descriptions I had already read on here.

I still feel pretty confident in the FA20 overall. If we start seeing a string of them with the same problem as more people hit my mileage, I might change my mind. I think I was just one of the lucky ones who got a defect. I doubt it will take me long to feel confident in the replacement engine.

I've had all the maintenance done at dealerships, right on schedule. So it should be Subaru 0W20 Synthetic, which I think I read somewhere is repackaged Mobil 1. I have also had a used oil analysis done after every oil change and had no indications from the oil that there was any problem brewing. The oil itself always has plenty of life left in it.

I don't track this car. It happened out on the street when I shifted from first to second accelerating away from an intersection. I don't baby this car, but I don't abuse it either.

The car has lived in Louisiana, Texas and now Florida. The coldest it has experienced is temps in the 20s in Arkansas after a snowstorm, and that was right after I got it. The hottest it has seen is a few 105-110 degree days in Texas. I'm not running it on a track in Arizona.

I normally monitor my oil temps in Torque, and it usually stays under 220. Unfortunately I had my engine monitor disconnected when this happened, so I don't know if anything anomalous occurred right before the failure.

that's very true. i'm sure some of those spun bearings are due to that but yours is the first cracked open pump i've seen i guess. now i'm curious what metal the opg's inside the fa20 are...

Shattered oil pump at 65K miles
 

I'm at 63k running mobile1 0w-30. So we will find out. I know some people on here are well past that without issues. You may have indeed just been unlucky. I'm very curious how many others will have this issue.



Good luck on the replacement motor

Sorry to see that ..........:(


humfrz