OOOOk so, two nights ago my car randomly start knocking away. Immediatly I think, god damn DSM. I freak out for the next two days and finally pull the oil pan to take a look-see. cylinder 1,2,3 are all good.. a little scored possibly from the metal floating around.. then I come upon cylinder #4. I pull out the bearing and think to myself... WTF? Somebody mind telling me what this could possibly be? I seem to have some idea as to why it would have been used because there is slight rod to side play but it's very slight.

Looks to me like a stock rod bearing that saw a bunch of detonation. Rest assured, that bearing shell did not start out mushed to the sides like that. That shell came from the rod-side of the bearing, not the cap side, right?

Kevin

Actually both sides were smushed like that. (the picture is next to a new bearing to show comparision)


So your telling me this was an ordinary bearing that saw a shitload of detonation and formed itself in that matter?

On another note the crank doesn't look to be scorned too bad. Is it possible I could simply take some high grit wetsandpaper and micropolish smooth enough to simply replace the bearings and be on my way? Also what might have caused this bearing, only this one, to detonate the way it has? I still can't believe that it could be a standard bearing.. At first i thought i was some strange engine rebuilders bearing used to make up for the rod to crank play from left to right in order to achieve a tighter fit.

I'd say you were about sixteen feet from spinning a bearing, locking a big-end and pitching a broken rod through the fresh ventilation apertures in the side of your block.

i pulled a bearing that looked exactly like that out of a block.the rod did fly through the block.i couldnt figure out what it was,because its much too wide to be a rod bearing.now this engine i tore down was due to lack of oil.so the rod welded to the crank,balance shafts locked up,tore teeth off the t-belt,then the rod put a nice window in the block.best i could think up was the crank had a peice of metal welded to it to make it back in spec again.but i dunno what machine shops do on cranks.

you can see by the wear in the end cap that both of the bearings were in fact spinning around inside the rod and cap.

Also, I cant seem to figure out why the hell it would it be detonating. I have been running stock boost since I installed this engine, and I set the timing with a light.

I swear this car is cursed.... lets see...

blown head gasket
skipped timing bending all my valves (stupid hale park automotive)
rod knock on engine #1
bad starter
bad alternator twice
always leaks oil
bad master cylinder
blown turbo
blown clutch
oil filter has fallen off once on each engine
now rod knock on engine #2

sad thing is, I only run 10lbs of boost

serioulsy, I am just waiting, or should I say anticipating, my tranny to start grinding.

I thought that was just the top shell that was smushed out. If it is both shells and the bearing spun, it is more likely an oil supply problem, not detonation. Do you know the history of this engine? All dsm's with the sandwich oil cooler and a large oil filter LOVE to toss the oil filter off, which damages the bearings very quickly if the driver doesn't catch it instantly. Bearing #4 takes the most beating when this happens because its the last in the oil chain. If its a high mileage engine with infrequent oil changes or low pressure at idle, #4 takes the worst of it as well.

If the crank journal cleans up with something non-abrasive to the steel, you can put another rod on there. By the looks of that bearing, there is probably some damage to the journal and it should be mic'd to see if the diameter is OK, then polished by a machine, in the direction of rotation. If its out of spec, get another crank.

Good luck,

Kevin

That damaged bearing looks to be the same size as a 6-Bolt rod bearing. You would have to be an idiot to not know you were putting the wrong bearings in , but then again Autozone was stupid enough to sell me 6-bolt bearing for my '94 Laser (which come with 7-bolts). Saying this I noticed you also have a '94 DSM. if both bearing are pretty much the same thickness.....I wonder

I'll take an extrememly detailed picture of the crank bearing journal in question (#4)


It does have some abrasions but it seems to be still smooth. Anyways, I'll take a picture tommorow and hopefully you can tell me if it's for sure in need of re-machining.


The motor only has about 8k on it right now, and I have only tossed an oil filter once so far on this motor. My LAST motor I tossed.. I think 3 (which also fell to the torment of rod knock)
So basically you'd think I would have learned my lesson... but.. yea.


Picture tommorow, and I'll await for your reply. Thanks for all the awesome help so far.

So you've tossed at least 4 oil filters and still use the water to oil cooler. Get a 90 oil cooler setup ASAP if you care about your engine.

Mike1992 said:

So you've tossed at least 4 oil filters and still use the water to oil cooler. Get a 90 oil cooler setup ASAP if you care about your engine.

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ugh, i KNOW! could someone direct me to what i would need to buy to do this conversion?

ALSO.. i havn't taken a picture yet, but tommorow i shall. keep going with the thoughts thou i appreciate em.

You need the oil filer brakcet, the 2 oil lines, and the front mounted oil cooler plus the 4 banjo bolts. You should be able to get one on ebay, I see them all the time on there.

Put a hose clamp around the oil filter, then use some safety tie wire to string from the hose clamp's 'clamp' mechanism over to something solid on the motor to prevent it from loosening. Think of it as a tether for your oil filter. It won't loosen up and fall off if you do this.

Kevin

kiggly said:

Put a hose clamp around the oil filter, then use some safety tie wire to string from the hose clamp's 'clamp' mechanism over to something solid on the motor to prevent it from loosening. Think of it as a tether for your oil filter. It won't loosen up and fall off if you do this.

Kevin

Click to expand...

sounds like a cheap fix. sorry i havn't taken a picture we've been busy with our other DSM build and work has gotten in the way. Plus i went to see the Brewers tonight and they won again against the Yankees!


anyways, i should be able to snap a picture tommorow.

Maybe just rebuilding the engine would be a good idea.

it was just rebuilt... and i dont have another car, or enough funds to do all the machine work, and invest all the time into it

replace the oil cooler, it will hold old metal particles until you install the new engine then guess what , it will do it all over again WTF

Defiant said:

Not correct.

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mmmm, not too sure about that one. There may be some things lost in translation here, with what engineman said (ie; oil cooler). Its a good idea to take off the oil filter housing and flush everything out with brake cleaner, and run some oil through it before putting everything back together.

On the other hand if were are talking about the 90 cooler, its also a good idea to pull everything off and flush it out. In theory the oil filter should catch most of the bearing material, but I've personally seen debris make its way through the cooler/lines, etc.

Throw in some new bearings, clean your oil filter housing and see what happens. If it spins or comes close to it then its time to yank the crank.
Good luck.
Later/joe

^^^ sorry, that was me replying under my brother's user name.