[Shotimes] Rod bearings

[Steve Tatro]

There have been many people face this situation.  Some replace rod
bearings at the first hint of the oil pressure light.  No damage to the
crank journals.  Some people hear the bottom end knocking before they
ever see the idiot light, and replace the bearings.  No damage to the
crank journals.

I helped (and I use the term loosely) Mark Mallory do his rod bearings.
He had some that were the scarriest looking bearings ever come out.
They had clearly spun and were making some noise.  Still, there was no
visible damage to the journals.  He replaced them with some standard
sized Clevite bearings, and is still going strong, AFAIK.

Carl, you probably could've saved the engine had you responded to the
first oil pressure light.  There's apparently some window of opportunity
between when the bearings start to knock and when there's irreversable
damage done to the crank.  I mean, who the heck is going to remove the
crank, have it precisely reground to accept an oversized bearing, and
put it all back together!

Take care,

Steve Tatro 
Red/Black '93 with 169k miles 
Cincinnati, Ohio 



-----Original Message-----
From: shotimes-admin@autox.team.net
[mailto:shotimes-admin@autox.team.net] On Behalf Of Carl Prochilo
Sent: Friday, August 08, 2003 2:19 PM
To: SHOtimes
Subject: Re: [Shotimes] Rod bearings


Rod bearings that are in an impending state of failure are a silent
killer at first.  This is why I believe people want an oil pressure
gauge instead of idiot lights, CMIIW.

This is what I observed on my 3.0L before it gave up the ghost last
September.
  1.. After the engine gets warm, and sitting at a traffic light with
transmission in neutral, the red Oil light flickers slowly.  Give it a
little gas and it goes away and usually stays off.  Engine is quiet as
usual.  No perceived loss of power.
  2.. Eventually after a few more drives this pattern will get worse and
then the light won't go off once the engine reaches idle again.  Engine
is still quiet.  No perceived loss of power.
    a.. At this point I decide to get an oil flush and change oil and
filter. No difference noticed.  Duh.  I ask some of the local people
what might be happening and they don't give much help and can't diagnose
the problem.
  3.. At some point later, starting the car will sound like an old mid
70s motor that has bad timing and you hear a knocking sound.  Drive the
car, sound goes away.  After engine warms up, you get same as 2.
  4.. Finally the coup de gras.  You drive the car, knocking sound
doesn't seem to go away.  It's really loud now but car still moves.  The
noise gets to be so loud that you just don't want to drive it anymore.
Now you have a real decision to make about the car. I'm not a gear-head,
so throughout this whole time I have no idea what's happening until it's
too late.  You probably read this and say WTF was this guy thinking, but
I wasn't using the car a lot at the time and the drives were all in the
roughly 10 mile per trip range.  Of course I know better now but at the
time it was all new to me.

I don't know if after any point during this sequence if the motor could
have been saved if it had stopped being used and the rod bearings were
immediately replaced.  I do know that once the crankshaft has been
compromised that the repairs get to a whole new level of work.

Cheers,
Carl Prochilo
92 Ultra Red Crimson
----- Original Message -----
From: "Bruce Malachuk" <bmalach1@nycap.rr.com>
To: "SHOtimes" <shotimes@autox.team.net>
Sent: Friday, August 08, 2003 12:59 PM
Subject: [Shotimes] Rod bearings


> Well with my center console out of the car and no sound deadening 
> material
in
> place I can hear a distinct knock at 3500+ RPM in my car when driving.

> That
to
> me is enough readon to change the bearing, but I need to find the best

> deal
on
> all that I need to do the job.
>
> Price wise is there anyplace out there that carries everything and has
decent
> prices? Rockauto doesn't carry the bearings but carries the gasket set

> and
egr
> gasket to use as an oil pickup gasket.
>
> I wanna try and do this over the weekend cause I really hate the idea 
> of my car knocking like that.
>
> Bruce
> 94 Opal Frost MTX
> 93 Black ATX - winter beater then parts car :-) 
> _______________________________________________
> Shotimes mailing list
> Shotimes@autox.team.net http://www.team.net/mailman/listinfo/shotimes
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