Spinning rod bearings??

[1glaserturbo]

Well, I've got a grand total of 63 miles on my brand new motor, and it's started to knock hardcore. Here are a few pictures to help explain my situation.


Rods 1-3 had side-side play while rod 4 was solid with none.

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[1stGenRocks]

Was it assembled at a shop or did you do it? were the bearings standard or oversize, was everything checked and clearanced properly?

 

[motomattxxx]

That bearing does'nt look like it has spun. It looks like the rod caps should have been align honed though, that or those are some cheap bearings because you can see where the bearing had high spots on it that are starting to wear in. Other than that the bearing looks ok.

 

[1glaserturbo]

I had a local, and very reputable shop do the work for me because I didn't have the time to do it myself. Bearings were standard, and everything was done within spec.

 

[Defiant]

What's the shop say about it? Did you plastigauge the clearances?

Odd how car parts are always on carpet.

 

[1glaserturbo]

What's the shop say about it? Did you plastigauge the clearances?

Odd how car parts are always on carpet.

The shop in which I had everything on the bottom end assembled said a little play was normal for rods on side-side motion. The little grooves I was looking at were actually micro-grooves to help with break in.

The shop did everything per-manual or past experiences.

 

[Maglin]

You have to have side play on rods. It is where the oil gets out of the oil system. Ever wonder how the oil left the system to get back to the pan. It's out the sides of the rods and it also slings up to lubricate the cylinder walls as well.

Those bearings don't really have anything wrong with them cept that little scratch on the bottom picture. But that could just be from you wiping it off. The dull grey layer on the bearing is just a corrosive inhibitor and wipes off pretty easily with a paper towel. Did you look at your other bearings? What does your crank look like on #4? check out the sides of the journal and look for marring. If #4 was tight I would definitely be looking at #3 as well.

You didn't lable them but if I had to guess I would say the bottom pic was of #4 due to the excess of debris in the babbitt layer. Also it doesn't appear you spun a bearing. Rod knock isn't always a spun bearing.

And it is odd how car parts are always on carpet. I don't have carpet and the wife definitly wouldn't be letting me put anything off a car on said carpet if we had it.

 

[1glaserturbo]

That bearing is from rod #1 and I haven't pulled anymore off.

I'm going to pull off #4 tomorrow and take a look-see, perhaps it wasn't as tight as I thought it was. Just a little pissed, haha.

 

[1fast97gsx]

I don't see how those are spun? You are supposed to have some side to side play. When the crank moves side to side the rods have to compensate, which is why they will have some play. If you had 0 play on one of the rods, then THAT is a problem, there's actually a spec for side clearance that needs to be checked when the motor is being assembled. Also, how certain are you that the knocking sound was a problem with the rods at all? What did it sound like, and when did it happen? What pistons were used?

 

[twinturbo3k]

When I spun a bearing it was completely destroyed, I couldnt even tell there was a bearing there. Is your crank scored at all?

 

[1glaserturbo]

No, I took all the rod caps and bearings still in them to the shop and he said they were perfectly fine.....next step is to check timing, which I semi-checked the other day and it looked to be dead on everywhere. Would a collapsed lifter be as loud as what I'm experiencing? I did a few searches and this might be what I have on my hands....

To explain the sound, it was deep at idle and would increase with the rpms and decrease with the rpms. My knock gauge would go nuts on the same setup that I ran on my first dsmlink log, which I've got a thread here as well. I'm hoping it's a collapsed lifter :'(

 

[perley03]

How old is your crank dampener (pulley)? Wonder if it is starting to seperate and making that "knocking" noise.

 

[1glaserturbo]

That's one other thing I was going to check. It's from 92, unless it was replaced before I got the car a year and a half ago. I don't think it'd be the cause because it sounds like the knocking noise was coming from the cylinder head area.

 

[drewvr4]

That's one other thing I was going to check. It's from 92, unless it was replaced before I got the car a year and a half ago. I don't think it'd be the cause because it sounds like the knocking noise was coming from the cylinder head area.

i once heard my buddies 1st gen talon make a sound that almost resembled knock but it was actually and injector that was taking a dump on him, double check everything easy before you assume the worst.

 

[motomattxxx]

Timing belt tensioner can knock also if it is going bad or was pretensioned wrong.

 

[1glaserturbo]

Damn, I'm foolish. I had my mom come out with me to the car and stand (for her it's standing because of the 2600) on the clutch while I gave the crank a good spin to see if the knock was around. Low and behold, it's gone. Had her take her foot off and it came back.

After about 20-25 minutes of pulling the transmission, I noticed all 6 flywheel bolts have backed out about 1/10 or more of an inch and all finger loose.

For all the newcomers, loctite is my new best friend!

 

[Maglin]

Do you have an aluminum flywheel? It's pretty common with an aluminum flywheel. If it's steel maybe you just forgot to torque them bolts. Locktite is good though. Glad you found your problem.

 

[Dream On]

After about 20-25 minutes of pulling the transmission,

Teach me to pull a tranny in 20-25 minutes. Hell, I'd even take 30.

 

[1glaserturbo]

Do you have an aluminum flywheel? It's pretty common with an aluminum flywheel. If it's steel maybe you just forgot to torque them bolts. Locktite is good though. Glad you found your problem.

Teach me to pull a tranny in 20-25 minutes. Hell, I'd even take 30.

Negative on the aluminum flywheel, stock matter of fact. I s'pose I did forget to torque them down

When I got my act 2600, I took off and put on my transmission over and over in one afternoon because I thought I installed it wrong because it wouldn't engage, oh well. Practice makes perfect!

Now it's making another annoying noise, this sucks.

 

[Turbo Talon 111]

Damn Chris you're having all kinds of bad luck with that new motor. And yeah, always RED locktite those bastards on there then torque them to spec. I've never had mine back out on me. Wish my noise was something that easy.

Did you pull your whole motor or just pull the oil pan and get to things that way?

 

[1glaserturbo]

Just the oil pan, and the noise it's making again is the flywheel. I even red loctited them in!

It's going in the garage this weekend so I can do this whole process again, .

 

[Maglin]

Umm.. Chances are your input shaft for your tranny is very loose. The play your loose flywheel provided to your input shaft might have taken out the front bearings in the tranny.

 

[1fast97gsx]

Just the oil pan, and the noise it's making again is the flywheel. I even red loctited them in!

It's going in the garage this weekend so I can do this whole process again, .

What did you torque the bolts to? Also, I'd check the input shaft as well.

 

[1glaserturbo]

Found out it wasn't the bolts, the crank, or the input shaft that was causing problems. The bolts weren't seating on the flywheel all too well because the bolt holes were so worn down. I had a spare lightweight flywheel lying around that I replaced it with. So far soo good.

As far as the input shaft, still tight as can be! No play at all.