2G Spun rod bearing? need help

[empie1]

Alright, so today I drained the oil and I took a look at it and I didn't really notice any metal shavings, however when I dropped the oil pan and looked around in there where there was some oil still left over I could see a little bit of gold/copper colored flakes, there wasn't much but just a little, but I didn't see any big metal shavings. I also checked my timing and it is lined up so that's good.

I looked at my connecting rods and crankshaft and I couldn't see any noticeable damage, but I didn't take any of the connecting rod caps off because I called it a day.

So would I be able to tell if I did spin a rod bearing without taking the caps off or would I need to take them off to see?

And one more thing I forgot to mention, whenever we were pulling off I noticed the car's engine temp was a little above normal, so I don't know if that could help with what it could be.

...dude the copper flakes are bearing material. Chances are it didnt spin completely yet other wise you would have larger bearing pieces. Spend the extra 10 minutes and remove the caps. If you find one that has groves in the bearing, run your fingernail across the crank shaft where the rod was attached. If your nail catches a groove, the crank is junk and needs to be cut or replaced. If you find no bad bearings in the rods, than one of your main bearings is shot.
The timing marks are irrelevant at this point. The bottom end is smoked and needs to rebuilt or replaced.

 

[Saturdee]

...dude the copper flakes are bearing material. Chances are it didnt spin completely yet other wise you would have larger bearing pieces. Spend the extra 10 minutes and remove the caps. If you find one that has groves in the bearing, run your fingernail across the crank shaft where the rod was attached. If your nail catches a groove, the crank is junk and needs to be cut or replaced. If you find no bad bearings in the rods, than one of your main bearings is shot.
The timing marks are irrelevant at this point. The bottom end is smoked and needs to rebuilt or replaced.

haha like I said, I'm new and have never done this before. I'll try to head out to my friends house sometime this week or this weekend at the latest and finish.

 

[empie1]

haha like I said, I'm new and have never done this before. I'll try to head out to my friends house sometime this week or this weekend at the latest and finish.

 

[JacksonAuto]

A spun bearing is different than a knock and causes significantly more damage. A knock is from a damaged bearing that is making a bunch of racket because of the increased clearance. A spun bearing is one that has stuck to the crank journal from excessive heat and poor lubrication and it actually "spins" inside of the big end of the rod. A knock can lead to a spun bearing if you continue to run the engine. Sometimes a crank and rod can be salvaged after a knock, but never after the bearing has spun.

If you've got a knock, you're going to at least need to tear down the engine and thoroughly clean and inspect it. The crank and rods will need to be cleaned and magnafluxed to be sure that the knock did not crack them. Once you're certain that everything is in good shape you can put it together with new rings and bearings and a set of pistons.

If you actually spun the bearing then don't waste your time. You will need a new crank and at least one rod. If you spun a main the block is junk.

Pull the rod caps and post photos.

 

[empie1]

A spun bearing is different than a knock and causes significantly more damage. A knock is from a damaged bearing that is making a bunch of racket because of the increased clearance. A spun bearing is one that has stuck to the crank journal from excessive heat and poor lubrication and it actually "spins" inside of the big end of the rod. A knock can lead to a spun bearing if you continue to run the engine. Sometimes a crank and rod can be salvaged after a knock, but never after the bearing has spun.

If you've got a knock, you're going to at least need to tear down the engine and thoroughly clean and inspect it. The crank and rods will need to be cleaned and magnafluxed to be sure that the knock did not crack them. Once you're certain that everything is in good shape you can put it together with new rings and bearings and a set of pistons.

If you actually spun the bearing then don't waste your time. You will need a new crank and at least one rod. If you spun a main the block is junk.

Pull the rod caps and post photos.

This all has been said! Thanks for the recap....

 

[JacksonAuto]

I think you missed the point of my post....

 

[Saturdee]

Thanks for the reply, I never really knew exactly what it meant to "spin" a rod bearing. This weekend I will take the caps off and take pictures and post them on here, hopefully it's not too bad...

 

[JacksonAuto]

You're welcome. Let me know if we can be of service to you.

 

[Saturdee]

Some of the cap bolts I couldn't get to, should I just be able to move the crank with my hands from under the car? Or is there something else I need to do?

 

[donniekak]

Some of the cap bolts I couldn't get to, should I just be able to move the crank with my hands from under the car? Or is there something else I need to do?

You can spin the crank with a 1/2" ratchet by the bolt in the nose of the crank.

 

[Saturdee]

You can spin the crank with a 1/2" ratchet by the bolt in the nose of the crank.

Okay thanks

 

[Saturdee]

Okay today I got the connecting rod caps off and I took a look at the rod bearings and they didn't seem to bad. I still need to check the main bearings though, so I would assume it was a main. I did find a rather large piece of metal in my oil pan when I looked a little harder, but this is the biggest one I found. I took some pictures so I'll just post them.

And I saw no damage to the crank at all when I took the caps off

 

[Saturdee]

Alright today I made it out to his house again and I checked the main bearings, and the two end ones seemed in worse condition than the other ones. But they didn't seem like extremely bad or anything, so right now I'm just confused on how that metal peice got in my oil. I also saw a couple more smaller pieces in the pan today after looking harder, but there wasn't a whole bunch. Here's the pictures I took.

 

[JacksonAuto]

Balance shaft bearing maybe?

 

[Saturdee]

Would that cause the engine to shake bad?

And how do my bearings look? I could feel my finger nail catch some scratches on the crankshaft where the bearings went around, so is it shot? I mean it wasn't anything crazy, just small little scrathes it looked like in the way it would rotate.

 

[JacksonAuto]

Yeah that would surely make it shake. Pull the shafts out and see what the bearings look like.They don't lom terrible. What I would expect from an engine with contaminated oil. The scratches may polish out without being turned. I would mag the crank, mic it and try to polish it and see if it cleans up.

 

[empie1]

Yup I second the bs bearings. The engine should be disassembled and checked and polished. the oil is now contaminated so everything should be removed nd cleaned out...or you can half ass it just replace the Bs bearings and hope for the best.

 

[dsmcrzy]

IMO like it was stated your oil is contaminated the glod flakes are part of the bearings and those more than likely are in your head too. When my engine spun some bearings there were shavings everywhere! It's not worth it to just slap new bearings in and hope for the best. I would pull the engine and use it as a learning experiance. If You pull the motor on your car and rebuild it you can pretty much do anything after that. Good luck tho and atleast you didn't buy a rebuilt engine that only made it 2000 miles before the engine was toast like I did...

 

[Saturdee]

Yeah well either way I'm going to have to pull the engine to find out for sure I guess. At least I'll definitely know my car a lot better after this . It's kind of a relief though that I don't have to buy a new crankshaft.

I'll take my valve cover off and look to see if I can see any small metal shavings or anything, thanks for the replies everyone.

 

[Saturdee]

I finally got the car to my house and am working on it. I pulled all my spark plugs, and on cylinder 1 this is what I saw. What would cause this?

 

[Gs Dewd]

You will probably be ahead of the game a pull the engine out of the car. Then you can pull it apart and see how much damage is in the cylinder with the bad plug. Also you did mark the rod caps before you pulled them off didn't you? As in which rod and which direction they go on.

 

[newTSIguy]

Ya, you need to do a compression test first, you were really lean in that cylinder, maybe a clogged injector.

 

[Saturdee]

You will probably be ahead of the game a pull the engine out of the car. Then you can pull it apart and see how much damage is in the cylinder with the bad plug. Also you did mark the rod caps before you pulled them off didn't you? As in which rod and which direction they go on.

No... I didn't. Is there any way I can tell how to make sure they are on correctly?

 

[newTSIguy]

Uh oh,

 

[Gs Dewd]

Well unless there are some identify wear marks on the caps that correspond with the rods then no. You will have to do a complete rebuild and have the rods checked and the big ends checked with the caps for proper circumference and bearing clamping force. When ever you pull a engine apart mark everything so it can go back the way it came out. The rods need to be in the cylinder they came from and with the caps the had and also in the direction they came out. As in there is a front and a back to the rods, caps, and pistons.