1995 gst grayish oil/burn looking rod

[1992_Talon_tsi]

Hello im heaving some thoughts on the car i bought and i would like if you guys could describe more or less of whats going on. Its a 1995 GST freshly built 7BOLT BLOCK with eagle crank, eagle rods & bearings, je pistons, arp hg & head studs. Currently the car its not running have some issue with the clutch and havent got around to turn it on. Today i pulled the oil pan to check how the bottom end was doing and when i drain the oil i found it dint have the clear color it looked greyish pictures of the pan below, the i check the rods all look good but one of them looked kind of burn also pictures above the other 3 looked ok, i would like to know whats happening here?

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

[/ATTACH][/ATTACH]

 

[1997_GSX]

Well it looks like that rod is getting awful hot, pull the cap off, looks as if you have spun rod bearing.

Also did you plastigauge that setup before running it? What did the clearances look like?


Another note, some eagle cranks had out of round journals which required turning the crank and running over-sized bearings. Was this crank checked for being out of round? This was a while back I am not sure if the QC at Eagle has improved. I lucked out and got a perfect crank from them.

 

[1992_Talon_tsi]

Well it looks like that rod is getting awful hot, pull the cap off, looks as if you have spun rod bearing.

Also did you plastigauge that setup before running it? What did the clearances look like?


Another note, some eagle cranks had out of round journals which required turning the crank and running over-sized bearings. Was this crank checked for being out of round? This was a while back I am not sure if the QC at Eagle has improved. I lucked out and got a perfect crank from them.

The work was done by a shop so i believe they check for everything been in working orders, the problem its that oil looks contaminated i got the car like that so no idea of what could possibly caused that and in the worst case if there its a spun bearing on that rod could have been caused by that thats why i would like to know where this mix comes from...

 

[1997_GSX]

Well the oil looks grey / metallic which is the aluminum off the rod bearing.

Spinning rod bearings usually comes from:
Low oil pressure
Crank journal out of round
To tight / loose of tolerances
Backwards installation of the rod cap
"Washing of the bearings" Running way to rich flooding the cylinder walls with gas making its way past the rings into the crankcase oil thus thinning it out and contaminating it.


You need to get the clearances from the builder / previous owner. Sounds like you may have gotten ripped off especially if you have never drove it due to the clutch issue. Did the car knock when you bought it? Like a slight metal on metal tapping that increased in frequency as the engine rpm increased?

If you decided to pull the caps off all the rods label them 1-4 from the timing side and make note of which way they came off the rod they are not interchangeable.

 

[Below Ambient]

The work was done by a shop so i believe they check for everything been in working orders

I'd ask them if they checked the clearances and what they are... if they cant give you numbers than chances are THEY are at fault...

 

[josh408]

And you paid the shop and you don't know exactly what they did?

 

[1997_GSX]

Most good shops will give you the numbers but some will make you pay for blueprinting which is a sheet of all the clearances main, rod, piston to wall, ring end gaps ect.

 

[1992_Talon_tsi]

Well the oil looks grey / metallic which is the aluminum off the rod bearing.

Spinning rod bearings usually comes from:
Low oil pressure
Crank journal out of round
To tight / loose of tolerances
Backwards installation of the rod cap
"Washing of the bearings" Running way to rich flooding the cylinder walls with gas making its way past the rings into the crankcase oil thus thinning it out and contaminating it.


You need to get the clearances from the builder / previous owner. Sounds like you may have gotten ripped off especially if you have never drove it due to the clutch issue. Did the car knock when you bought it? Like a slight metal on metal tapping that increased in frequency as the engine rpm increased?

If you decided to pull the caps off all the rods label them 1-4 from the timing side and make note of which way they came off the rod they are not interchangeable.

Tomorrow i would ask the guy who sold me the the car to take me to the shop that did the rebuild. When i bought the car it did not turn on i got it for 1k he claim it was running fine until the clutch went bad. Also as soon as i can im going to pull the cap to see whats going on. I assume that the only rod with that problem its the 1st one the other rods looked ok. I did not found a piece of metal in the oil pan however its there supposed to be any?

 

[1997_GSX]

Sometimes there will be shavings, but it looks like yours is finely ground up and mixed into the oil. I would pull the caps off the others for sure to check.

With that type of heat marking on the rod I would have a machine shop check it for heat fractures / warp / out of round.


I would go ahead and pull the engine out of the car an put it on a stand, you are going to have to pull the head to get the rod / piston out and clean everything. As well as the the front case. The crank will most likely have to be at the very least micro-polished or most likely turned.

It sounds like you got a good deal on the car if you are mechanically inclined and have the time, skill, money and patience to read and fix everything properly.

The head will also have to be cleaned of the metal shavings.

Check the oil pump, take the front case off and there is a housing in the back that is removable, check for scarring the the case where the oil pump gears sit, if it is scratched all up figure on replacing the front case / oil pump also.

 

[1992_Talon_tsi]

Sometimes there will be shavings, but it looks like yours is finely ground up and mixed into the oil. I would pull the caps off the others for sure to check.

With that type of heat marking on the rod I would have a machine shop check it for heat fractures / warp / out of round.


I would go ahead and pull the engine out of the car an put it on a stand, you are going to have to pull the head to get the rod / piston out and clean everything. As well as the the front case. The crank will most likely have to be at the very least micro-polished or most likely turned.

It sounds like you got a good deal on the car if you are mechanically inclined and have the time, skill, money and patience to read and fix everything properly.

The head will also have to be cleaned of the metal shavings.

Check the oil pump, take the front case off and there is a housing in the back that is removable, check for scarring the the case where the oil pump gears sit, if it is scratched all up figure on replacing the front case / oil pump also.

Im just going to pull the cap and if a spun rod bearing its the case i dont want to deal with 7bolts i would sell it, i have a 6bolt block sitting on a stand waiting to be build and drop somewhere witch i wouldnt think twice on build&drop. hopefully i got a good deal ill keep you guys updated..

 

[1997_GSX]

Im just going to pull the cap and if a spun rod bearing its the case i dont want to deal with 7bolts i would sell it, i have a 6bolt block sitting on a stand waiting to be build and drop somewhere witch i wouldnt think twice on build&drop. hopefully i got a good deal ill keep you guys updated..

Ok sounds good, upload a decent non blurry picture of the bearing / crank if you would.

 

[1992_Talon_tsi]

Ok sounds good, upload a decent non blurry picture of the bearing / crank if you would.

I will for sure keep you updated maybe if i have time tomorrow or if not on Tuesday to pull the cap, ill let you know what the shop said also and im not in any hurry i bought this 2g with a project in mind altho its sad it turned out this way i would loved to make some power with this block but dont feel like dealing with any further problem...

By the way the oil did not look like it had anything to do with a metal but lets see it look more like it was some other type off mix also dint detect any peace of metal by the filter more pictures

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

[/ATTACH]

 

[1997_GSX]

I will for sure keep you updated maybe if i have time tomorrow or if not on Tuesday to pull the cap, ill let you know what the shop said also and im not in any hurry i bought this 2g with a project in mind altho its sad it turned out this way i would loved to make some power with this block but dont feel like dealing with any further problem...

Yeah is it a clean shell at least? AWD?

 

[1992_Talon_tsi]

Yeah is it a clean shell at least? AWD?

Its a GST and yea its clean here its a picture.

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

 

[josh408]

Its a GST and yea its clean here its a picture.

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

That's clean. Are you going to convert it to an AWD?

 

[richard33]

I saw that car on Craigslist for a while. What did you pick it up for if you dont mind.

 

[fede]

You just spun a bearing. It happened to me a year ago, rod from cylinder 2 was just yours is and when I took the cap off the bearing was bad. That was due to oil pump failure on my case.

 

[1992_Talon_tsi]

Ok guys have great updates the guy told me that he bought the crank and rods used and the rods where reconditioned and crank was turned at the shop so now you can have an idea of where the burn rod comes from. Now where does the contaminated oil graysh/white comes from its the question. He told me that the engine wasnt making any noise before so motor its good..

Ok another thing its that he was the one who put the head back the car its using a cometic mls hg maybe he dint torque it right and it blew or its passing coolant/water?

 

[donniekak]

Could be condensation. I would still pull all the rod caps and replace the bearings.

 

[Below Ambient]

Ok guys have great updates the guy told me that he bought the crank and rods used and the rods where reconditioned and crank was turned at the shop so now you can have an idea of where the burn rod comes from.

Thats not it! The guy was just doing what 99% of a rebuild calls for... the good thing is if he used other parts then he didnt think the parts you had were good, so that shows he did measure the old parts, but what about the reconditioned parts AFTER the machine shop did their work on?

If I were in your situation I would start be asking him what the numbers were for the parts that went into the engine... did he use plasti-guage, micrometers? Did he check for flatness when he got the head back from the machine shop? Did he check the deck-height for straightness as well... what piston ring gap did he go with on the pistons? What does your receipt say on the bill? Is there any description of what was done, or does it just say RnR engine? (don't laugh I've seen it many times)...

If he can't answer these kind of questions for you or gets defensive, or worse, doesn't accept responsibility, then start filing a small claims for bad workmanship...

 

[1992_Talon_tsi]

Im going for the easy stuff first starting by pulling the valve cover and checking the underside for that milky mix there could be bad sealing on the head bolts, if not im pulling the head to check head gasket and if there its any crak on bolt,, any other ideas while im at it? O did i mention there was water and slight bit of coolant in radiator?


Ok guys more updates with pictures, pull the valve cover cap not the valve cover yet, and started touching the underside and found this sludge milky looking like...

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

[/ATTACH]

 

[Josh97eclipse]

The greyish tint cold also be the assembly lube the shop used, if the oil was never changed then it will reflect the color of what ever lube they used. When we changed my buddies oil it was the color he used.

 

[1992_Talon_tsi]

The greyish tint cold also be the assembly lube the shop used, if the oil was never changed then it will reflect the color of what ever lube they used. When we changed my buddies oil it was the color he used.

Oil havent been changed yet i believe ..

 

[aspekt9]

The greyish tint cold also be the assembly lube the shop used, if the oil was never changed then it will reflect the color of what ever lube they used. When we changed my buddies oil it was the color he used.

This was exactly my first thought. The bearings alone wouldn't make the oil that color, that is the color of assembly lube mixed with oil... I would definitely check the caps either way though since you already have the pan off. I'm willing to be your oil discoloration is just the lube.

 

[1992_Talon_tsi]

This was exactly my first thought. The bearings alone wouldn't make the oil that color, that is the color of assembly lube mixed with oil... I would definitely check the caps either way though since you already have the pan off. I'm willing to be your oil discoloration is just the lube.

Yea but check the pictures of what i found in the underside of the valve cover..