FA20 Engine Oiling, Bearings, and Starvation

[nelsmar]

Originally Posted by Luckrider

I mean, if you feel like tossing money around at a block for testing, I have a car with a clunky running motor

Lol I actually have two engines already... One that is built and another that someone made go clunky clunky that's getting stroked and sleeved. So I don't need a donor atm. And with how I treat my car I should really keep a spare... Haha!

[celek]

Originally Posted by nelsmar

I'm where you are... You know how quickly this shit adds up to an excessively expensive build. I planned on tossing this in my other block and hopefully someone gets some testing done before then but somehow I feel like I'll end up just having to buy one lol.

Yeah I am just under $8500 in the short block when its done... Should have LS swapped

[Tim Radley]

See the same here. They aren't the cleanest.

Originally Posted by sam69

A guy I know builds lots of Subaru ej engines and he is in the process of doing a fa motor atm and he has told me that the amount of silicone inside the motor is just unbelievable.

[Tim Radley]

On the subject of bearings and pressure.
Here is a stock motor i pulled apart with less than 500 miles on it.
Also here is an oil pressure log from the road and i have my limiter set at 8000rpm. Stock oil pump, blueprinted engine with flowed oil paths.

[celek]

Originally Posted by sam69

A guy I know builds lots of Subaru ej engines and he is in the process of doing a fa motor atm and he has told me that the amount of silicone inside the motor is just unbelievable.

Block resealed by Subaru tech after rebuild..... Customer complained of noise then engine stopped running. Suspected Silicone in Oil Passages
Silicone all over

[OkieSnuffBox]

Jesus this thread makes me want to sell everything, go back to stock, sell the car and just buy something else for a DD/HPDE car.

[DustinS]

Originally Posted by celek

Block resealed by Subaru tech after rebuild..... Customer complained of noise then engine stopped running. Suspected Silicone in Oil Passages
Silicone all over

So what you're saying is don' t let Subaru Techs near the engine, suck it up and rebuilt yourself? (or a quality shop)

[jvincent]

Originally Posted by sam69

The amount of bits on the oil pickup strainer was huge and he found the oil galleries to the VCT has strainers built into the block and these were almost totally blocked with bits of silicone .

Also a lot of bolts / screws weren't very tight at all and even some of the fixings retaining the oil pump weren't tight and he said you could see where the pump was starting to float/rub on the housing.

This thread is one of those ones that you wish you had never opened. Ignorance was bliss.

I'm assuming that accessing the strainers would require a tear down.

Would there be any way to "flush" oil through the engine to get some of the gunk out?

[Luckrider]

These posts make me fear that this is what we will find when we get into the block. If that's the case, I don't know if I'll be able to push Subaru to fix it.

[ajc209]

So I had the Moroso Oil Pan fitted today by my local shop.

Now it appears under long hard acceleration, say doing 20-90mph through the gears, I am getting a sudden and oscillating pressure drop from 80PSI down to 40PSI. As soon as I let off the pedal, oil pressure stabilises.

I've checked my oil level and its on the low side but higher than lower hole in the drip stick. I reckon this is oil starvation! WTF

I will check/top up oil levels and retest.

[solidONE]

I don't have a oil pressure monitor installed but after having my engine serviced for a leak at about 16-17K my average oil temps had gone up 5-10 degrees. Hopefully this thing last me another year without major repair then time to trade in for another car, me thinks.

[Sleepless]

Originally Posted by OkieSnuffBox

Jesus this thread makes me want to sell everything, go back to stock, sell the car and just buy something else for a DD/HPDE car.

Well, if you read the threads for other "choice" track car candidates, you're going to see similar horror stories. It's really hard to tell what is common and what is a rare failure since the people with no problems don't post. In my case, I've had the car for almost 2 years, 20K miles, 35 hard track days and it runs like a charm and uses not oil.

JRSC is going on next week

[celek]

Originally Posted by Tim Radley

See the same here. They aren't the cleanest.

That almost looks like sand casting thats left over in the block

[Kodename47]

Originally Posted by ajc209

So I had the Moroso Oil Pan fitted today by my local shop.

Now it appears under long hard acceleration, say doing 20-90mph through the gears, I am getting a sudden and oscillating pressure drop from 80PSI down to 40PSI. As soon as I let off the pedal, oil pressure stabilises.

I've checked my oil level and its on the low side but higher than lower hole in the drip stick. I reckon this is oil starvation! WTF

I will check/top up oil levels and retest.

Who did it? It's usual practice to fill with slightly more oil with a baffled plate as oil return to the sump can also be restricted.