Brand New Oil Pump Seized....

[Hammer_Gaidin]

Well, last night I was getting a car I have been working on for about 2 months now to idle right. After about 5 minutes it was running like a champ. We had good compression, good temps, and good oil pressure. This was the first time that the motor had been running since the build. Well I had a small oil leak from the slave cylinder so we turned the car off tried to fix the leak and started the motor back up. Tuning it with link everything looked great. Honestly I was surprised the car was running as clean as it was for like its 2nd time ever starting. I let it sit and run for about 2 minutes, and then all of a sudden it stopped. Just stopped. No clanking, grinding, popping, ticking, nothing, just stopped. Then my bud Reggie, who's car it is, just freaked out. Note the car has been down for like 7 months and he's out of cash to fix much. Well, after tearing it down I came to find out that the oil pumped seized. The gear will spin counter clock-wise, but not clock-wise. The bottom end and head spin like they should. I drained the oil and there were 0 metal shards. Well this Topline front cover had about 5 minutes run time on it. Anyone have any ideas??? Or has it happened to anyone else??
Thx

 

[1fast97gsx]

I just started a post on this as well ... I had a similar thing happen and it locked my motor.

 

[AUTOMECH01]

i had one go bad from overthighten the timing belt if you dont have the balance shaft on to support it

 

[DSMu4ia]

OEM oil pumps > *.*

Sorry to hear, but this is an almost "often" occurance with non-OEM oil pumps.

 

[KPWSerpiente]

Hopefully it doesn't happen to my Melling pump. We'll find out whenever I get the new motor in.


-T

 

[Mike1992]

What brand pumps were used? I have a "ITM" pump on my engine and have yet to fire it.

 

[1fast97gsx]

Topline here

 

[iwantawd]

F topline, i'll never use their shit.

 

[92tealTSI]

Are you dipping the gears in vaseline before you install the new pumps? Ive got a topline here and no problems thus far.

 

[TSIfreek]

Are you dipping the gears in vaseline before you install the new pumps? Ive got a topline here and no problems thus far.

Yea I think this is the main problem. Guys are installing the pumps dry and the shaft seizes in the oil pump housing. These pumps need to be taken apart and every thing lubed with assembley lube and vasoiline. Pack the area were the gears go with vasoline before installing the gears back into the housing. I have not had a problem with mine eather (topline). Parts fail because of improper assembly not the part itself is bad.

 

[1fast97gsx]

Yes my pump was prelubed and primed. The car ran great for almost 10000 miles and had good oil pressure. I'm buying only oem from now on.

 

[Spidey]

Just a note but it only takes a small amount of vaseline to work. Too much and you'll clog the oil passage like my buddy did to my car.

 

[project_tsi]

Have you been able to find out WHY the oil pump seized up? Gears lock up, or was it something in the casing?

 

[Hammer_Gaidin]

Ended up being that the bolt for the balance shaft came loose. So the pump wasn't seized after all. We were pleased.

 

[Big Woo]

I have seen this before, and not only with Mitsubishi pumps. Additionally I would disagree the manufacturer of the pump has a role to play, as I have seen this with OEM, topline, Melling, and other manufacturers pumps. Below is what I have found to be contributing factors for pump failure.

1: Dry start, pump was not disassembled and properly lubricated, prior to start up.
2: To much timing belt tension.
3: Oil pump drive gear seal installed incorrectly, plugging drive gear oil return.
4: Overtightening of driven gear bolt into balance shaft, (or stub shaft if balance shaft is removed). This bolt should be torqued to the specifications listed. If this bolt is over tightened too much it can distort the outside diameter of the balance shaft or stub shaft. If this occurs you will have problems no matter what type of pump you use.
5: Here's one for the people who think rod caps, main caps, and cam caps are interchangeable. Do not use the housing from oil pump "A" with the cover from pump "B". You know the five bolt hole piece that covers the oil pump gears from the block side. If you do, you are begging for trouble.

As a note I like to disassemble the pump and de-burr it prior to use. There are allot of nasty sharp edges along some of the internal oil passages. They are just waiting for some pressurized oil to come by, sweep them away, and ruin your day.

 

[98talonAWD]

DAMN.... same thing happened to me, i had 450 miles on my bradn new motor and the oil pump seized. spun a bearing on #1 and had to buy a brand new Manley rod and redo everything... had to buy new pistons too because when the rod went it shook the piston in its bore and F'd up the rings on #1. shitty.

I can't beleive there are as many cases of this happening. i am like 5 seconds away from selling my car and buying a Smith and Wesson .50 cal. hand gun and going to Topline and do a little " housecleaning" of my own. my damn bottom end was probably worth 5 grand atleast. #### them

 

[diambo4life]

5 Grand on the bottom end and you buy a non-OEM oil pump? Geeez. I try and use everything OEM on my car especially engine internals. I don't mind paying extra for it.

 

[1fast97gsx]

5 Grand on the bottom end and you buy a non-OEM oil pump? Geeez. I try and use everything OEM on my car especially engine internals. I don't mind paying extra for it.

There should be no need to buy oem if a company that makes a part properly makes it so it's problem free which they should.

 

[Mike1992]

There should be no need to buy oem if a company that makes a part properly makes it so it's problem free which they should.

Exactly

 

[1fast97gsx]

Just to add, I took mine apart finally and the shaft on the main drive gear was really chewed up and so was the sleeve on the inside of the pump where the shaft rides. There was signs of some ( very tiny and very few ) metal shavings in there from the shaft but I still don't know what caused that to happen. It spun fine when it was first installed and was lubed and primed.

 

[98talonAWD]

we'll i got an OEM one now, but like the other guy said... you shouldnt have to.

makes me wonder if there was a bad batch or something. i took apart the stock motor before i rebuilt it( had 175,000 miles on it) and the oil pump( was a stock part OEM) looked almost brand new. and my topline before failed after 450miles?!?!?.... kinda scary in a way. cause you know mitsubishi/ eagle doesnt pre-lube these oil pumps from the factory, and it says nothing about pre-lubing them in the idiot manual.

 

[Suparata]

Did anybody read Big Big Woo’s post? Who makes the pump does not necessarily mean much since there are several OEM pumps that failed out there.

I would like to add another possible contributing factor to those. Excessive RTV on the oil pan that can cause the oil return hole from the oil pump drive gear to get plugged.
Overall assembly plays the biggest role in oil pump failures followed closely by how the engine is primed before startup.

 

[RiceKiller_TSi]

Ok, this thread is scaring me. Now I'm thinkin I put too much rtv on the pan.

 

[TSIfreek]

One thing that is a good Idea with RTV in any area is not torque down the fasteners when the pan is first installed. I like to install it JUST hand tighten the bolts let it sit for a day then torque them down. This prevents the RTV from squsihing out and causing problems mitch stated above and provides a better seal as well. BTW you dont need that much 1/8th if that of an inch is all you need. Also apply the RTV to the pan not the block going around the inside of the bolt holes.

 

[92tealTSI]

Do what TSIFreek said. I do this method when I do all my oil pans now and I have NEVER had one leak.