Shattered oil pump at 65K miles

[Ultramaroon]

Hmmm, very interesting. Sorry, Shaky. That's a bummer.

Hell, I didn't even know oil pump failure was a thing. Learning new stuff every day. Thanks for sharing.

[BRZnut]

Originally Posted by DAEMANO

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.

We have seen failures on this forum with non-modified engines. This forum likely represents a small fraction of owners. So, I wonder how many failures have occurred since 2013 that we never heard about. It could be significant. Only Subaru/Toyota know for sure.

As time goes on if we see the dealers fixing these engines more willingly than they did at first, I believe that will be a signal that Subaru is realizing there is a design issue with this engine. But of coarse they will never tell you that.

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by BRZnut

We have seen failures on this forum with non-modified engines. This forum likely represents a small fraction of owners. So, I wonder how many failures have occurred since 2013 that we never heard about. It could be significant. Only Subaru/Toyota know for sure.

As time goes on if we see the dealers fixing these engines more willingly than they did at first, I believe that will be a signal that Subaru is realizing there is a design issue with this engine. But of coarse they will never tell you that.

Taking the number of people on here and the known number of unmodified failures (if we believe all the stories) we have a failure rate of somewhere around 1%. If we consider this a representative number of all the cars out there then there is no reason to run around screaming the sky is falling. This example seems to be a one off and if it was rampant we would know by now since there are loads of them running around out there with way more than 60K on the clock. I know you have flowed these failures closely but so have I and in the last year they have dropped off considerably. Most of the issues were 13s and it is starting to look like the ones that are going to fail have. The situation is improving not declining as the miles build up.

[gramicci101]

Plus, while some have failed on high hp engines, others have failed on stock engines, and many more engines have held with multiple hundreds of hp above OEM. It's more likely that the failures just happened to be on the weak end of manufacturing tolerances and those owners got the short end of the straw.

[extrashaky]

Originally Posted by Tcoat

Taking the number of people on here and the known number of unmodified failures (if we believe all the stories) we have a failure rate of somewhere around 1%. If we consider this a representative number of all the cars out there then there is no reason to run around screaming the sky is falling. This example seems to be a one off and if it was rampant we would know by now since there are loads of them running around out there with way more than 60K on the clock.

I wholeheartedly agree with this. Despite a little pessimism Saturday evening after I got home and realized I'd have to walk if I wanted dinner, I still feel optimistic about the motor in general and the replacement in particular. I didn't post that pic to scare anybody into thinking our cars are all going to grenade. I just figured we share this kind of thing, and other owners might want to know it happened.

It's actually a little more interesting if I'm the only one who ever sees this. Who would really care about another blown engine post if 50% of them were doing it?

[Ultramaroon]

Originally Posted by extrashaky

It's actually a little more interesting if I'm the only one who ever sees this. Who would really care about another blown engine post if 50% of them were doing it?

If you consider this as a place where we all gather to compare scars you got a really good one.

Hope they build on to your new short block nice & clean so it doesn't weep. fingers crossed for you.

[choi0706]

it was not a miss-shift?

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by choi0706

it was not a miss-shift?

A miss shift isn't going to blow an oil pump apart. Although you did hit on the suspected cause of some of the blown engines even if the owner insisted that they never did.

[BRZoomTX]

Interesting to see this fail at OEM power levels. The only other oil pump gear failure that I am aware of being documented on the forum is a spitfire's build thread, that shattered somewhere around 700hp. I don't recall the rev limit on the car but I believe he did head work as well. Link below.

http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showp...&postcount=250


I feel like this would just be a mad mis-shift or extremely poor luck with a defect in manufacturing... Either way, good luck OP.

[extrashaky]

Originally Posted by choi0706

it was not a miss-shift?

Originally Posted by BRZoomTX

I feel like this would just be a mad mis-shift or extremely poor luck with a defect in manufacturing...

I was in first gear accelerating away from an intersection. The failure happened (or became obvious) when I shifted from first to second.

I can think of no reasonable scenario in which one can mis-shift a stock BRZ upshifting from first into any other gear that would damage the engine.

[Ultramaroon]

that elusive 0.5 gear

[extrashaky]

Also...

Originally Posted by BRZoomTX

Interesting to see this fail at OEM power levels. The only other oil pump gear failure that I am aware of being documented on the forum is a spitfire's build thread, that shattered somewhere around 700hp. I don't recall the rev limit on the car but I believe he did head work as well. Link below.

http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showp...&postcount=250

Thanks for posting that. I figured I couldn't be the first, with all these people tracking their cars.

Obviously that engine was under a lot more stress, so you could expect more risk of failure in general. However, intuitively I would not expect the oil pump gear to be under significantly more stress in a boosted application unless he was revving really high. Even then, I wouldn't expect it to come apart like that.

Originally Posted by Ultramaroon

that elusive 0.5 gear

I have a four dimensional transmission. I downshift into 1/2 to bump the car sideways.

[Ultramaroon]

Originally Posted by extrashaky

I have a four dimensional transmission. I downshift into 1/2 to bump the car sideways.

I need this.

[extrashaky]

Originally Posted by Ultramaroon

I need this.

Gotta be careful, though. A mechanical overrev in the fourth dimension can easily cause your engine to momentarily wink out of existence and rematerialize in the cabin with you.