You sir are correct, it did have an oil pump on it. It was tough to turn, I oiled it up till it turned easy but I bet that's the problem. I'll take it off and put the one on my broken timing chain on it or buy a new one. Thanks for the reply!

 

one other thing to look for when you install that timing chain cover with the integrated oil pump.... there are two rubber seals that are needed between the pump and the engine block. If these are not there, especially on the pick up side, you won't get the suction needed to pull oil up from the pan thru the oil screen and tube and all you'll pull through the pump is air.

While you had the timing chain cover off and were working on the head gasket and valve seals, did you replace the timing chain set too? The whole reason i had to rebuild my 1.9 was due to a slipped timing chain (at 205k miles) that resulted in two broken rocker arm, three bent exhaust valves and 1 completely broken exhaust valve stem. I don't recall you saying how many miles are on the engine but if it's getting up there, a timing chain might be in order.

 

and it is entirely possible that the timing chain cover you bought was available because --- you guessed it -- the oil pump must have gone south, leading to timing chain breakage and the mangled internal engine carnage that usually accompanies that...

 

+1 on what baldguy said. those gaskets could be either old or missing if they werent thought about (i didnt remember until baldguy said it lol, been awhile since i was in that motor)
I would replace it while its out,i dont believe it was an expensive part. Thats not a fun area to be working in with the motor in car. If you havent replaced the chain, they may be sold as a kit/package.

When I did mine, I packed the pump with vaseline to help prime the system (at recommendation of my friend walking me thru my first engine build) I figured
i'd share that not sure if that would help or anything

 

just curious, were you able to fix your oil pressure problem?

 

i have a stupid question here for yall. with an 02 sl2 would you have to pull/drop the motor to get the timing covor/chain and oil pump off. and are all oil pumps integrated with the timing cover