change bearings

[mattspyder]

Well I think I spun a rod bearing. Whenever I rev it up past 2500 rpms I hear a clunking like something it hitting.
How hard is it to change the bearings. My friends told me its pretty easy all you have to do it drop the oil pan and you can get them right out.

I also have some smoking going on whenever I idle and when I come to a stop it smokes, also alittle bit inbetween shifts. I did a compression test awhile ago and I had really good compression. I believe it is the turbo.I have the t04b vtrim from bullseye turbos. I really dont like the turbo so I will probably go with something that spools faster.
What do you think I should do about the turbo issue?

 

[Lunch_Box]

Never changed the bottom end bearings but you can access everything you need with the oil pan off.

The smoking sounds like your valve stem seals are bad.

 

[T is for TURBO]

Well I think I spun a rod bearing. Whenever I rev it up past 2500 rpms I hear a clunking like something it hitting.
How hard is it to change the bearings. My friends told me its pretty easy all you have to do it drop the oil pan and you can get them right out.

I also have some smoking going on whenever I idle and when I come to a stop it smokes, also alittle bit inbetween shifts. I did a compression test awhile ago and I had really good compression. I believe it is the turbo.I have the t04b vtrim from bullseye turbos. I really dont like the turbo so I will probably go with something that spools faster.
What do you think I should do about the turbo issue?

Well, If you did infact spin a bearing, DON'T drive anymore... Second, get the turbo rebuild ASAP. I spun a rod on my motor witha brand new turbo. When I swapped everything onto the new motor, I checked for shaft play, and there was very little, so I thought it would be fine... About 500 miles later I was burning oil like crazy and the shaft play was horrible. I called Forced Perfomance about this, and I talk to Brian Winkle (I think that was his name) And he was telling me that if you spin a bearing, you should definatly get the turbo rebuilt. He was telling me that a peice of bearing material only 10 thousands in diamter can kill your turbo.

Also, you can change the bearings with the oil pan off.. However I wouldn't suggest it. I would have the crank inspected. Because when you spin a bearing, you are shaving off bearing surface on the crank shaft, so the diameter of the bearing surface on the crank shaft is now smaller that what its supposed to be. If you just through new bearings on, your likley to spin another bearing.

Good luck
-Shawn

 

[BISHILVR]

I LOVE the way that no matter what job somebody ask's about on any message board, someone will always chime in with "ITS EASY, YOU JUST..." So I guess there is no hard jobs on anything in the world. Usually the person stating how easy it is has never had an engine apart in their life. Changing bearings is not an easy job, but it can be done with the engine in the car, and like the previous poster mentioned the crank should be carefully checked.

 

[Lunch_Box]

I LOVE the way that no matter what job somebody ask's about on any message board, someone will always chime in with "ITS EASY, YOU JUST..." So I guess there is no hard jobs on anything in the world. Usually the person stating how easy it is has never had an engine apart in their life. Changing bearings is not an easy job, but it can be done with the engine in the car, and like the previous poster mentioned the crank should be carefully checked.

Who said it was easy? I said that you can access everything to do the job by removing the oil pan, never said it was easy.

 

[BISHILVR]

"How hard is it to change the bearings. My friends told me its pretty easy all you have to do it drop the oil pan and you can get them right out. " THIS IS who said it was easy,

 

[fallenauthority]

It is easy, time consuming but very simple task. I wouldnt waste my time just changing the bearings though. I tried it and it spun again within 3 days. Time for a new crank bud. But if you do want to try replacing them more power to you, I just wouldnt waste my time.

Jack car up and support properly
Drain oil
Remove Downpipe
Remove turbo oil drain tube
Remove oil pan
Carefully remove rod end caps pull out old bearings, use assembly lube on the new bearings and reinstall. Do each rod one by one as to keep the corresponding end cap with the proper rod(yes, it does matter)
Torque each rod end cap bolt to 49ft/lbs if its a 6 bolt, and 38ft/lbs if its a 7 bolt.
Clean the oil pan up, get rid of all the metal shavings in it, replace oil filter as well. Clean off all old gasket/rtv material from oil pan and block.
Use Grey RTV on the oil pan and tighten down hand tight with a ratchet, dont apply a lot of force, dont squeeze all the rtv out of the pan/block gap but do tighten it to where it oozes out slightly.
Replace Downpipe and let car sit at least overnight before filling with oil and starting as to let the RTV cure.

 

[brute]

The transfer case needs to come off in order for two or three of the oil pan bolts to be accessed.

I do not suggest doing bearings with the motor in the car. If debris gets into the oil passages, it will do further damage to the motor. You might as well take the motor out, freshen everything up with new gaskets and such, and get the stripped block hot tanked.

 

[fallenauthority]

The transfer case needs to come off in order for two or three of the oil pan bolts to be accessed.

I do not suggest doing bearings with the motor in the car. If debris gets into the oil passages, it will do further damage to the motor. You might as well take the motor out, freshen everything up with new gaskets and such, and get the stripped block hot tanked.

Thanks for pointing that out, I dont have AWD so I didnt know it was an additional step involved for AWD.

 

[BISHILVR]

Yes, transfer case has to come out. If you have a way to flush the oil passages in the block and head you can use that route without pulling the engine (they make an aerosol product with a hose to do that actually).

 

[keltalon]

just changing the bearing is not good enough! the reason is ,the rod , you say is clunking, is no longer round. if you change the bearing without having the rod resized it will 99.9% fail again

 

[fallenauthority]

just changing the bearing is not good enough! the reason is ,the rod , you say is clunking, is no longer round. if you change the bearing without having the rod resized it will 99.9% fail again

Thats not true. The reason it is clunking is because the bearing has been eaten away now and the rod is allowed to flop around on the crank and make the clanking sound. Dont spread misinformation.

 

[T is for TURBO]

Thats not true. The reason it is clunking is because the bearing has been eaten away now and the rod is allowed to flop around on the crank and make the clanking sound. Dont spread misinformation.

I'd be willing to be that the crank is out of round. Maybe not a lot, but I'm sure its a bit out of round. If the bearing spun do to wear over time, the rod slapping around during that time would definatly put an uneven wear on the crank shaft, and if it wears unevenly, it won't be round.

 

[brute]

What if he ruined the main bearings? There's no way to change those without dropping the motor. So he might just do the whole job and have the same knocking.

 

[T is for TURBO]

What if he ruined the rod bearings? There's no way to change those without dropping the motor. So he might just do the whole job and have the same knocking.

Did you mean main bearings?

 

[brute]

Woops. Fixed it with an edit. Good eye.

 

[fallenauthority]

I'd be willing to be that the crank is out of round. Maybe not a lot, but I'm sure its a bit out of round. If the bearing spun do to wear over time, the rod slapping around during that time would definatly put an uneven wear on the crank shaft, and if it wears unevenly, it won't be round.

Yea but the rod will still be in round, no matter what the crank is trashed anyway.

 

[timloomis]

100% the crank and knocking rod will need to be machined/replaced.The bearing will eat away at the crank while its bashing into it at several thousand rpm's.Theres probably something wrong with the rod in the first place,or it wouldnt be knocking.That rod probably has some nice little dents in it by now.

 

[T is for TURBO]

100% the crank and knocking rod will need to be machined/replaced.The bearing will eat away at the crank while its bashing into it at several thousand rpm's.Theres probably something wrong with the rod in the first place,or it wouldnt be knocking.That rod probably has some nice little dents in it by now.

yes and no

the rod knock is cause by the bearing wearing away and causeing a gap between the crankshaft, bearing, and rod. The rod itself is unlikely the cause of the rod knock... However I do agree that the rod should definatly be inspected, as when the bearing spins it also can do damage to the rod as well.

 

[keltalon]

Thats not true. The reason it is clunking is because the bearing has been eaten away now and the rod is allowed to flop around on the crank and make the clanking sound. Dont spread misinformation.

what do you think is happening to the big eng of the rod while it is flopping around the crank !!! its being reshaped therefore it is no longer round and will not work unless replaced or resized!! now if this is misinformation then kindly report it to the moderator

 

[brute]

Without taking the motor apart, you will not know what is messed up. You might end up spending all the time to replace the bearings from under the car and figure out it's knocking from something else.

 

[bryanwheat]

Spun bearings come from lack of oil, detonation, heat, bad oil, worn bearings, inproperly machined crank or rod, overrevving, there are multiple reasons. No all i see is alot of miainformation from several different people. Let me set some people straight. I work on these motors, and build them, and other makes of motors on a daily basis.

IF you spin a bearing, there is usually an umderlying problem that most likely caused this spun bearing. You will not be able to tell with out pulling the pan.

If the bearing is spun, the rod will need to be reconditioned, it doesn't matter if it visually looks fine, it needs to be pulled and reconditioned. You can get these things real easy.

You are gonna gave to pull the head, and pull that piston/rod thru the top, and have it machined. Now for the crank

IT is highly unlikely that the crank is undamaged, yes they are nitrate coated steel cranks so they are rather strong on the surface. But when you spin a bearing, and it is making noise it is doing damage with every rotation of the crankshaft, and if you are hearing noise, than the bearing is probably pretty worn, and likely non existant, and in the oil pan by now. You will need to inspect, and mic the crank with a mic, not a verneer caliper. MAke sure that it is still in round. If there is so much as a scratch on the crank, it will need to be replaced, period. And these cranks aren't servicable. You will need to buy a good used one, or a new one, and have it balanced.

If you have to pull the crank, you are gonne need to pull the motor, it can be pulled with the block in the car, but is alot easier with the motor out, you would have to pull the tranny, and pull the front cover off the motor in order to get the crank out.

So basically you are gonna have to pull one piston and rod out, and pull the crankshaft, you might as well buy a used crank, new main bearings, have that 1 rod reconditioned, pull the other 3 out, and have them reconditioned too, Do it while it is apart, and you won't have any problems down the road. You are gonna need a gasket set, and set of rings also, so you will want to hone the block, and install new rings on the pistons, you can't reuse the old ones.

Buy new rod bearings, inspect oil pump for wear, might as well eliminate the balance shafts while you have it apart.

And yes you can change a main bearing with the crank in the car, there is a special flexible tool to push the top half out of the journal, and you can push the new one in .

 

[sherloc123]

Mine recently started knocking due to a rod bearing and i had just had my turbo rebuilt which is even worse. Id suggest taking the tranny and every thing else out to take the crank out and have it miced. Especially since you drove the car while it was knocking. If you put new bearings in and the cranks not in spec it will knock with in a week or two and youll have to do it all over again.

 

[BISHILVR]

At this point I would take my chances with a new rod bearing and see what happens, you dont have that much to loose.