We get this question a lot. If it’s not broke, why fix it? Because it could break is the simple answer. Now, I know what you’re thinking—why would it break?
To fully understand why we recommend OPG/CS, you need to first understand what we’re talking about. The oil pump is a part of the engine lubrication system. It draws oil from the pan, pressurizes it, and distributes it to where it needs to go.
For the 5.0 coyote platform, the oil pump is a fixed displacement style. It consists of the Oil Pump Housing (also referred to as the Oil Pump Body), oil pump gears (inner and outer), crank sprocket, crank bolt, oil pick-up tube, and pressure relief valve. Keep in mind that the crank sprocket on the oil pump housing drives timing components. Ford produces these parts with powdered metal. For normal use, there is no issue.
The main issue that comes into play is the fragility of the oil pump gears, sprocket, and crank bolt when under boost. We aren’t talking normal wear from mileage—we’re talking sudden fracturing. High RPMS, aggressive acceleration, hard launches, vibrations, and higher pressure is not what the factory gears are meant for, and each launch is a chance at a fracture in the oil pump gears or crank sprocket. If it’s the oil pump gears, you go from a perfectly functioning car to drops in adequate oil pressure and a catastrophic engine failure quickly. If it’s the crank sprocket, you lose the connection between the crankshaft and timing chains resulting in timing to jump, camshafts to desync, pistons and valves to collide, and a catastrophic failure.
Pictured below is a barely caught time bomb. This boosted 18 GT customer came in for OPGS/CS replacement at just the right time.
While we will never say anything is foolproof, swapping to billet gears and sprocket, such as the Boundary Lubrication Oil Pump Gear and Crank Sprocket, along with the ARP Crank Bolt, drastically reduces the likelihood of failure. We also recommend swapping to a new Oil Pump Body so that any wear from the previous factory OPGS does not transfer to the new billet gears. You already have insurance on your car. Consider this insurance for your engine and boosted setup.
We also recommend replacing them when we are beginning to add boost to save you money in the long run. Think about it this way—would you ever want to pay for a supercharger install twice? Well, that’s exactly what you’re doing if you do not do it before adding that power. To get to the OPG/CS, we will have to remove the supercharger and reinstall it again, which adds to the labor rate. Now, it won’t be the full labor rate as we do not have to unbuild the supercharger and plumbing itself, but it is still more money spent later on. Add this to the risk of your engine having a catastrophic failure, and you quickly see why we are so adamant. Spend the money now, or spend it twice, or spend twice as much. Most would pick the first option.
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