Oil change after engine work?

[Hollow]

Vehicle and current oil fill: In sig.

In the next month or so I'll be getting the following work done to the Outback:
New timing belt, pulleys, tensioner, water pump, crank seal, cam seal, valve cover gaskets (leaking onto spark plug boots), valves checked/adjusted, and resealing the oil pump.

And then the engine should be good for the next 100k miles or until the body rusts out, whichever happens first.

Oil will have somewhere between 3000 and 4500 miles on it by the time I get the car in to be worked on. Should I change it out early after the work? Was planning on taking the PP to 7500 miles or so.

 

[229]

Good idea as dirt enters engine when opened. I would change the coolant also and add Suburu cooling system conditioner as there are headgasket sealing issues with this engine. Good fortune.

 

[Merkava_4]

The only reason you might want to change it is because of the water pump replacement. If there's
any oil galleries around the water pump, you could potentially get some coolant in the oil.

 

[Hollow]

Originally Posted By: 229
Good idea as dirt enters engine when opened. I would change the coolant also and add Suburu cooling system conditioner as there are headgasket sealing issues with this engine. Good fortune.

Already had that done (Subaru OEM coolant) about 10k miles ago.

Originally Posted By: Merkava_4
The only reason you might want to change it is because of the water pump replacement. If there's
any oil galleries around the water pump, you could potentially get some coolant in the oil.

That I am not totally sure about.

 

[Radman]

After the work of course.

 

[NHHEMI]

For me it is a no brainer. Any time the engine is opened up( i.e. internal area ANYWHERE is exposed )I change the oil 2X's in short order following the work. I do a quick 50 mile or so run with cheap oil and a top of the line filter after doing the work( I do the OC right after the work is done and right before driving/starting it ). I will then do another OC with my normal oil and filter after that 50 miles but I change that out fairly quick too( maybe 500-1000 )before returning to a normal OCI.

I have seen quite a few engines get toasted because foreign matter got into the engine and the owner did not do any extra OC's to make sure it was removed. Actually happened to me once when I was younger and didn't know better. I had the intake and VC's off to replace a lifter as well as some gaskets and I didn't do an OC after( didn't know any better at the time ). I thought being careful and having clean rags covering exposed areas was good enough. NOPE! Something got in and trashed a rod bearing on me.

As I recall I made it about 75 miles before I lost oil pressure. Engine ran perfectly prior to the work I just had a lifter that bled down as it sat so I replaced it to quiet it down at start up. I can't say 100% for sure that it wouldn't have happened if I did an OC right away as talked about above but it could have certainly saved me just as easily. The odds would have been in my favor that the new filter caught the foreign matter.

I have seen it happen to others as well both on a personal and work level but figured I would man up with my own experience. Mistakes are sometimes how you learn. I learned, the hard way, that a couple quick and cheap OC's are well worth the money vs an engine tear down because something got in there while the engine was opened up. The guy who taught me how to work on cars told me this but in my youthful "I know everything already" mode I ignored his advice like a fool. You can be as careful as possible( and you NEED to be )while the engine is open and stuff can STILL get in there.

 

[bepperb]

If I were doing the work myself I would probably change the oil, since you never really know if some piece of grit fell in the engine with the valve covers off.

If someone else did it I would definitely change the oil, since I trust no one based simply on the fact they have no vested interest in the longevity of my car and no time to chase ghosts that may or may not have fallen in.

 

[gathermewool]

Can the valves be adjusted on the '03 EJ25? I thought they were HLA.

I'd run the engine for a bit and change the oil earlier than normal, but not necessarily immediately. Anything that's left in the engine that can will make it to the pan will, and will be taken care of by the filter. If it's large enough, then it may not drain out of the hole and will cause issues regardless of when you change it.

I see no benefit to running many short intervals - one, maybe, but not many. If the engine killed itself after it was torn down, rebuilt or overhauled, it is my opinion that it was caused by poor workmanship, not oil-filter-removeable particulates.


To each his own, however, and if it gives you peace of mind to change it early, then do so.

 

[mechtech2]

It's not the WP, but the VC gaskets and oil pump that can allow dirt ingestion, or particulate matter from old gaskets to fall in.
I'd change the oil and filter after 50-100 miles.

 

[rslifkin]

I generally pour some cheap oil over the heads, etc (whatever was exposed) to rinse any dirt down to the pan, then change the oil (but generally not the filter) before startup. I'll run it for a week or so, then do a full oil and filter change.