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  #1  
Old 05-10-2008, 02:50 AM
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Exclamation SPUN BEARING? .. Can It Be Saved?

Dropped my lower pan today. Found these!!

Can I drive this car without furthering the damage?

It sounds great/ runds great - toook me hours to decide which cylinder was at fault (via cracking the hard lines).

This car has been sitting for 2 years, pending body work, it has been driven less than 25 miles since then.

Is there a possibilty that I can replace jus the rod bearing and have a decent engine again??? please

Or is my whole project screwed?
Lie to me

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Prelude to crank rebuild / replace-visor-001.jpg   Prelude to crank rebuild / replace-visor-002.jpg   Prelude to crank rebuild / replace-visor-003.jpg  
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  #2  
Old 05-10-2008, 02:52 AM
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the flakes are thin like foil, somewhat malleable, but break if played with. What you see in teh pics represents 80% of that which I found in the pan, besides smller particulate matter.

Again.. car runs great.
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  #3  
Old 05-10-2008, 04:14 AM
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Where do you think they came from? You said they were thin like foil? Are they also silver colored like foil or bronze/copper colored? If they are silver colored do you think it is Aluminum or lead/tin alloy (Babbitt from a bearing)? Are they magnetic?
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  #4  
Old 05-10-2008, 04:21 AM
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Good question, they are magnetic.

and silver

They are incedibly similar to the flakes in another engine I dismantled that had rod bearing failure (eventually spun into a knock and wore the the crank)
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  #5  
Old 05-10-2008, 07:44 AM
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If it happens to be #1 you could probably just drop the front pan and put in a new rod bearing. It wouldn't hurt anything,I fdon't think....but....

The bearing spun for some reason and whatever hurt it is most likely affecting the other cylinders as well. It seems unlikely that replacing the one bearing will be more than a very temporary solution.

Tom W
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  #6  
Old 05-10-2008, 09:19 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jt20 View Post
Dropped my lower pan today. Found these!!

Can I drive this car without furthering the damage?


Is there a possibilty that I can replace jus the rod bearing and have a decent engine again???
In my modest 10 years experience with overhauling engines (both personal and professional) I have only come across 2 examples of being able to just replace a damaged bearing with no additional work and had success. In both cases they had been spun but did not damage the surface of the crankshaft. If you disassemble, check visually for scoring/grooves/discoloration from heat, then check with micrometer for out of round and or plastiguage and find no other issues then bearing can probably be replaced with no additional issues. Like I said though I have only ever seen/done this 2 times with success. Also make sure the locking tabs in the rod and cap are not damaged.
Good Luck
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Old 05-10-2008, 09:22 AM
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dieselkraut had a wagon that had a massive knock. We dropped the pan and found those flakes. Funny thing too was the oil strainer was filled with tree parts becuase the po took the valve cover off and let **** go in there. SO it could have been a plugged up strainer that caused the bearing failure. But yea, it will probably turn into an insane knock
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Old 05-10-2008, 09:24 AM
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Lie to you? OK. You could replace the bearing and life is good.

Truth is I wouldn't. It probably won't work. I am thinking that you not only lost some bearing but you lost some metal on the crank. I think you would be further ahead taking it out and having the crank checked over at least. While it might have been rotating around in that state, it might have changed the angle of the piston and might have scored the bore.
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Old 05-10-2008, 11:15 AM
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The crank might be saved at this point but, if you run it like it is, your chances diminish and 617 cranks are very expensive too fix.
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  #10  
Old 05-10-2008, 11:24 AM
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If the bearing has spun, the bore in the connecting rod has been damaged. And if one bearing has spun, are there others poised to do the same?
Does the crankshaft appear to be usable?
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  #11  
Old 05-10-2008, 11:52 AM
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All of the above and if you are going to fix the engine you have you need to determine what caused the failure.
The engine needs to come out and the Crankshaft and Rod Bearings as well as their journals need to be inspected.
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Last edited by Diesel911; 05-10-2008 at 03:19 PM.
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  #12  
Old 05-10-2008, 12:05 PM
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I'm thinking that taking out the engine and checking the bores is at least the first thing I would do. After that, check the crank. Connecting rod is probably ok but you never know
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  #13  
Old 05-10-2008, 12:27 PM
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I slept on it and examined the flakes some more. There are some that are not magnetic and break like melted plastic / have a white-ish color to them.

there are some metallic flakes that appear to not be magnetic.

The other thing is, this car was in an accident and the A/C compressor was hit just enough to crack the block in the front near the chain. This was minor and the shop repaired it. But coudn't metal from the block have gotten in there while the engine was running after the accident and seized a bearing .. perhaps momentarily?

The oil cooler was destroyed as well - oil starvation?

What are the chances it was a fluke and the bearing is turning correctly now?

Will a stethoscope help me determine what is going in there accurately enough?
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  #14  
Old 05-10-2008, 12:33 PM
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Given the information that WE have, there is a great chance of anything.
Have you pulled the cap off the suspect rod and inspected the bearing? That's the only way you can be sure of its condition.
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  #15  
Old 05-10-2008, 12:34 PM
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another idea.

I am going to drain the oil again, drop the pan and look for more evidence today. The engine has been run on fresh oil for maybe 20 min b/c I was doing a coolant flush.

Is it safe to presume that if there are no more flakes that this is not continuing?

this really healpful info.. I can not thank you enough.

thank you

the car has 187k and is pretty clean in the bottom end. Runs w/ lots of power.

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