when to replace oil pump?

[woodrat]

So, I have an engine in my 90 Legacy that now has 135K or so since it was supposedly rebuilt, and the bearing in the toothed ilder pulley on the timing belt went bad a while back, causing me to park the car for a while. Now I have it apart and am going to pick up my timing belt parts next week, and I was wondering if there is any particular need to replace the oil pump just yet. There don't seem to be any oil leaks from the front seal area, and the car was running strong when the bearing went bad on the idler. Is there a usual interval for oil pump replacement on these? Normally, I've never had the need to replace an oil pump on any car I've ever owned. When I inspected the one in my Cummins/Dodge truck at 267k miles,, it spec'd out as nearly new, as have other oil pumps that I've looked at over the years when doing other engine work on a variety of vehicles. Any reason to suspect my Subaru pump with only 135k on it? I am going to replace the water pump and tensioner cylinder while I'm at it.

Also, does anyone in the Portland, Oregon area have a center section of the timing belt cover they can sell me on Monday or Tuesday next week? Mine got kind of chewed up by the bad idler, and I'd like to replace it with a clean one while I'm doing this job.

thanks!

[lucas]

if it aint leaking don't change it. subaru parts guy told me that they hardly ever go bad.

[woodrat]

thanks!

[rallyak]

over 600000 on one of mine and never changed. just resealed twice.

[Legacy777]

The pumps don't necessarily go bad, but what can happen is the backing screws on the oil pump can loosen. This can cause reduced oil pressure. It's something where I pulled the oil pump off my ej22 n/a motor and the screws were fine. However when I got the ej22t motor to rebuild, the screws were not that tight. So it's kind of a judgement call. I usually put a little bit of med. locktite on the threads so they don't loosen. If you pull the pump, you should replace the o-ring between the pump & block.