bad oil pump on a 2025 Subaru

[Paddy]

Hi folks,

We bought our first new car in 40 years. At 9000 miles, check engine lights came on while on the road. Lucky for us there was a Subaru dealer nearby. They couldn't look at it until the next day. After 2-1/2 hours, they said it was all fine now. Drove 200 miles back home. The next morning the code and check engine lights came back on and would die if at a stop. Our local dealer couldn't get it in for 3 days and it sat in our garage. Dealer said it would be fine to drive it in to the dealer.

After two days, they said it needs a new oil pump, showed zero pressure at idle! They have a pump on order and should changed out in a week

They claim the oil was clean, free of metal flakes, so there can be no damage to the engine. I'm a mechanical engineer and I'm not so convinced...

anybody have an opinion on this?

 

[arto98607]

I think you are been taken for a ride - watch out...

Zero pressure should mean no oil flow at idle!

 

[rontaki]

Hi folks,

We bought our first new car in 40 years. At 9000 miles, check engine lights came on while on the road. Lucky for us there was a Subaru dealer nearby. They couldn't look at it until the next day. After 2-1/2 hours, they said it was all fine now. Drove 200 miles back home. The next morning the code and check engine lights came back on and would die if at a stop. Our local dealer couldn't get it in for 3 days and it sat in our garage. Dealer said it would be fine to drive it in to the dealer.

After two days, they said it needs a new oil pump, showed zero pressure at idle! They have a pump on order and should changed out in a week

They claim the oil was clean, free of metal flakes, so there can be no damage to the engine. I'm a mechanical engineer and I'm not so convinced...

anybody have an opinion on this?

Lemon law, perhaps?

 

[TMGT]

Lemon law, perhaps?

Lemon law pretty much covers problems that can't be fixed or are excessive. Warranty covers defects such as a bad part.

 

[steve tym]

Oil anaylsis. Ask the dealer for one, they probably just looked at the oil with an "eye-crometer". I doubt they still have the oil. I'd be worried too.

 

[TMGT]

Hi folks,

We bought our first new car in 40 years. At 9000 miles, check engine lights came on while on the road. Lucky for us there was a Subaru dealer nearby. They couldn't look at it until the next day. After 2-1/2 hours, they said it was all fine now. Drove 200 miles back home. The next morning the code and check engine lights came back on and would die if at a stop. Our local dealer couldn't get it in for 3 days and it sat in our garage. Dealer said it would be fine to drive it in to the dealer.

After two days, they said it needs a new oil pump, showed zero pressure at idle! They have a pump on order and should changed out in a week

They claim the oil was clean, free of metal flakes, so there can be no damage to the engine. I'm a mechanical engineer and I'm not so convinced...

anybody have an opinion on this?

Most likely it wasn't true zero but extremely low. If it was the service writer is telling you this, I'd take it with a grain of salt as they can be less than accurate with transferring information from the tech.

If you are worried then have them send off an oil sample. Depending on what the true pressure is at idle and how quickly it increases, it's possible there is no damage. Modern synthetic oils can be pretty impressive with how well they protect.

Which engine do you have, the 2.4 turbo, 2.0 n/a, or 2.5 n/a?

 

[Dftodd]

Hi folks,

We bought our first new car in 40 years. At 9000 miles, check engine lights came on while on the road. Lucky for us there was a Subaru dealer nearby. They couldn't look at it until the next day. After 2-1/2 hours, they said it was all fine now. Drove 200 miles back home. The next morning the code and check engine lights came back on and would die if at a stop. Our local dealer couldn't get it in for 3 days and it sat in our garage. Dealer said it would be fine to drive it in to the dealer.

After two days, they said it needs a new oil pump, showed zero pressure at idle! They have a pump on order and should changed out in a week

They claim the oil was clean, free of metal flakes, so there can be no damage to the engine. I'm a mechanical engineer and I'm not so convinced...

anybody have an opinion on this?

Seems like something would be screwy if the oil pump had zero pressure at idle.

Granted, if it's not circulating oil, depending on what scored, would it have shavings in the oil pump??

Years ago, we had an engine shop rebuild a couple Mitsubishi diesels for us at work.

Got them back and sent them out into the field. Got a call from the customer saying one of them lost oil pressure and shut down after a couple hours.

Went out there and checked the unit. Changed the oil pressure gauge (analog), changed oil and oil filter and fired it up.

I sat there and watched it. It had great oil pressure then after it got to temperature, the oil pressure started dropping

Got it back to the shop, pulled the engine and oil pan.

The pick up tube for the oil pump had a hairline crack in it.

Cold, it sealed and had great oil pressure. As it warmed up, the crack expanded and oil pressure dropped.

Put the oil pan on, installed the engine, and sent the unit back to the engine shop for warranty repairs.

 

[rontaki]

Lemon law pretty much covers problems that can't be fixed or are excessive. Warranty covers defects such as a bad part.

That engine has probably sustained damage if the pump was not delivering oil. Maybe the engine was made for the 0-.005W modern thin oil so it is not as critical as would be in an older engine, but why even include an oil pump if not needed? Methinks this one is a ticking time bomb.
Sell to some sucker? 3
What's next, 3 out of 4 wheels is good enough? What, you expected two headlights?

 

[ruffdog]

Way, way long time ago GM had tried the plastic covered timing chain sprocket. After 80k miles or so, the plastic would start to come apart on the cam sprocket. Replacement new timing sets were metal. Sometimes a piece of the plastic would block the bypass in the pump slightly open, so at idle the oil light would come on. I repaired enough of those engines I could do it in my sleep! I NEVER saw one that caused engine damage beyond a new timing set and cleaning. Engines are not highly stressed at idle. The engine very well may be just fine.

 

[ruffdog]

The OP should ask to see the pump taken apart. If the pump has a bunch of wear, those particles were fed through the oil passages and that is very bad.

 

[TMGT]

The OP should ask to see the pump taken apart. If the pump has a bunch of wear, those particles were fed through the oil passages and that is very bad.

Gerotor oil pumps are usually either fine or have catastrophic failure, such as a broken outer rotor. It could be the pump, but most likely, it's the bypass which is part of the pump.

 

[TMGT]

That engine has probably sustained damage if the pump was not delivering oil. Maybe the engine was made for the 0-.005W modern thin oil so it is not as critical as would be in an older engine, but why even include an oil pump if not needed? Methinks this one is a ticking time bomb.
Sell to some sucker? 3
What's next, 3 out of 4 wheels is good enough? What, you expected two headlights?

So scrap an entire vehicle because of 1 defective part? Makes total sense.

Not enough information to know if damage has occurred or not, you know what assumptions make!

 

[RandyT]

Lemon law pretty much covers problems that can't be fixed or are excessive. Warranty covers defects such as a bad part.

Everybody likes to scream lemon law but most people don't understand how it works. In IL it is 3 or 4 failure attempts of the same issue within a 12 month issue.

 

[TMGT]

Everybody likes to scream lemon law but most people don't understand how it works. In IL it is 3 or 4 failure attempts of the same issue within a 12 month issue.

Yup, there's a lot more to the lemon law criteria that I can remember off the top of my head, but yes, it takes a lot more than one problem or defective part!

 

[aba4430]

Could the oil pressure switch be faulty?

 

[TractorTYMe]

They put so much plastic @#$%^&* on engines these days. They're not meant to last, 80-100k then buy new. VERY environmentally responsible? Rite ..........rite </sarcasm>

 

[bdhsfz6]

The engine could be fine, but there is no way to know for sure. If it were me, I wouldn't take the chance. If there is a failure, the vehicle would likely be in the shop for some time.

Since the vehicle is a current 2025 model with only 9K miles, the safe thing to do would be to trade it. If you wait until the fall, you might get a deal on a 2025 leftover model. In the long run, the cost would likely be cheaper than an out of warranty repair in the future.

Then there's the inconvenience factor to consider. It's hard to estimate the value of losing the use of the vehicle for a major repair.

Just my 2 cents.

 

[Paddy]

quite a range of thoughts. I believe it's the 2.5 l

The dealer said we would get a 10 year/100k mi "curtesy warrantee extension" for anything related to the oil pump. But nothing in writing...

They already pulled the oil pan so I don't have the oil for testing.

 

[arto98607]

quite a range of thoughts. I believe it's the 2.5 l

The dealer said we would get a 10 year/100k mi "curtesy warrantee extension" for anything related to the oil pump. But nothing in writing...

They already pulled the oil pan so I don't have the oil for testing.

Sorry for the trouble!

I wonder what does "anything related to the oil pump" actually mean?

If you accept their proposal it sounds like you may just end up having a "curtesy warrantee extension" for the oil pump, and they want you the just accept the car after they change it.

How about demanding Subaru give you 10 year unlimited mileage warranty against mechanical failure for the engine.

 

[Paddy]

arto,

That is a good idea. I might bypass our local dealer and go to Subaru USA direct....

This is our 3rd Outback....