60K & rod bearings @ 269K miles (pics)

[sdpatt]

It has been a busy Christmas break for me with the family and the car. On December 21, I performed the upper end 60K, the valve gapping, plugs, plug wires, intake gaskets, injector seals and added O-rings to the valve cover bolt bushings. On December 28, I replaced the timing belt, accessory belts, cam seals, crank seal, CPS, CID sensor and the crankshaft Woodruff key.

Today, December 30, I replaced the connecting rod bearings. Several of you had expressed your curiosity about what rod bearings would look like after 269,000 miles (within a hundred or so). Well, here they are. Click the link below and enter the guest password shown below. You can select from the three photo albums for the different services I just performed.

Link: 269k SHO services

Guest password: 269k

Albums:
269K Valve Gapping
269K Timing Belt
269K Rod Bearings

Just as many of you suspected, even without a noticeable rod clunking sound, the bearings were well into the copper of the bearings. The engines that I have serviced with fewer miles than mine (isn't that all of them?), had a smoother, tighter sound as they idled and reved. The wear of the many miles that have rolled under my car is evident in the pictures of those bearings. No flattening or deformation, but smooth and significant wear of the bearing material.

The rest of the engine's lower end seemed to be quite solid and the oil suction was so strong that it was difficult to separate the rod end from the rod and then to pop the bearings off the journal. I found a drill bit (smooth end) that fit into the oil hole tightly enought that I could easily "lean" the bearings off the journal. I used one of the many plastic spray tubes from the cans of intake cleaner that have spent time in my garage to push the upper bearings around the journal.

The car is still on jackstands as I had to fit my work into a day with one of my daughter's 2nd birthday parties and my mother-in-law's birthday dinner. I found that the two 10mm bolts that attached the oil pan to the clutch bellhousing to be stripped and I suspect that at least one of the shops that did the several clutch replacements may have had something to do with that.

I used a thread repair kit to install steel coils in place of the stripped aluminum. With the completion of that repair and the installation of the starter, oil level sensor, Y-pipe, O2 sensors and new exhaust donut gasket, she should be back on the ground. Hopefully with a new lease on life. I'll say my prayers. (Later: prayers were answered).

<small>[ January 02, 2003, 10:07 AM: Message edited by: sdpatt ]</small>

 

[pjtoledo]

Did you find any scratches on the crank? Kind of glad I parked my 247,500 mile 92 this winter. Maybe it's time for some serious work now.

Perry Toledo,Ohio

 

[shojuan]

Yup, normal wear items those rod bearings are and this is good proof. Personal maintenance habits might change the wear interval but sure as the grim reaper, eventually, whether 100k, 200k, or 300k miles, they'll need changing.

Glad you bit the bullet and swapped new bearings in there Scott! thumbs_u What a nice way to start 2003!

Rick

 

[Tommy's SHO]

oh_my
I actually expected them to be in better shape. It is a good thing you changed them at the time you did Scott. Keep up the good work and thanks for posting the pictures.
Happy New Year to all!

 

[PROPHET]

First order of business for my sho in 2003 ,new rod bearings.
And hopefully stage one cams with full 60k.

 

[RTStabler51]

Not bad. When my 93 started knocking they looked about like that.

As for wear on the crank, I doubt there is any. I don't recommend this, but I had no other choice, when my SHO started knocking I put 50w oil in it. and drove it maybe a total of 15 miles in a week. No damage to the crank ;-)

BTW Scott, what did your oil pan look like?? I'm sure yours glistened.

 

[sdpatt]

I have uploaded a picture of one of the crank journals into the PhotoIsland account and no, I didn't see any scratches on the bearings or the journals. It was just a lot of smooth, polished, worn surfaces. The oil pan looked like shiny aluminum after I wiped the oil out looking for any particles. There were no deposits of any kind in the pan. Whew!

 

[Off Road SHO]

Scott,
Congrats on a successful bearing replacement. Would you happen to have a ball-end micrometer? It would be interesting to see what your deepest worn spot actually was at 270,000 miles. It's interesting that the uppers wore deeper than the lowers, must be from over-revving or something wink wink

Tom

 

[pjtoledo]

,,,,,,It's interesting that the uppers wore deeper than the lowers, must be from over-revving or something wink wink

Tom[/QB]

Actually I would expect the uppers to wear more. They take the load of the compression, power, and exhaust strokes. The lower bearing is only loaded on the intake stroke.

Perry Toledo,Ohio

 

[rendyx]

Bah! Photoisland's bandwith limits won't let me in. Scott, if you need a spot for the photos for a while, let me know. I see it's only noon, and your limit has been hit. Good to know that the motor was in that good of condition though! thumbs_u

 

[luigisho]

I can't get to see them yet either. These are a naturally wearing item and it's good to see that they lasted this long with no major incidents. Most of that of course is due to driving style and maintenance.

I'm curious as to why you didn't try to tackle the mains as well? Probably not alot of significant wear but I'd be curious as to their condition at that mileage as well. Looks like your car has plenty more life left in it.

 

[RonPorter]

RTStabler51:
I don't recommend this, but I had no other choice, when my SHO started knocking I put 50w oil in it. and drove it maybe a total of 15 miles in a week. No damage to the crank ;-)

Same deal here, except mine started knocking in MD at the Convention. I put in 20w-50 oil, with some STP-type stuff, and drove it 550 miles home. The bearings were incredibly bad, but the crank journals were fine. Car only had 86K, but it's prior history is questionable:
Bearing Job

 

[DavidT]

Scott, Is there anyway you could document a step by step procedure (for "dummys") to do the entire procedure? The only one I know of is Kurtmetros.com(?) (Thanks luigisho.) Seeing how I've never done it before, a 2nd documentation would be much appreciated
This is such a hot topic right now in the sho community, I know lots of people would really benefit from and truly appreciate it.

 

[rangerj]

Scott,

Were you able to use standard size bearings, or did you have to resort to oversized bearings?

The real question is, was there any wear on the crankshaft journals? Did you use "plasti-gage", or its equivilant, to determine what size bearings to use as replacements?

It is a sad commentary on the auto repair industry that a shop you trusted stripped the threads on two bolt holes and, 1. did not tell you about it, and 2. did not at least repair it.

Anyways, thumbs-up on the bearing replacements. IMHO you should have that engine "bronzed" and put on a display stand. thumbs_u

Do you think your wife would buy into the idea that it is a work of art, and should be displayed in the living room? (mine neither)!
(tongue in cheek) And no I have not started celebrating New Years early, honest! shrug rangerj

 

[NWGRN94MTX]

eek! Yep, they where due. Scott, it would be cool if you could start running oil analysis at every oil change, and post the results, then the people could see when it is time for bearings. I would guess with the maintenance and care that you do, about 120,000 to 150,000 miles would be the optimum number.

 

[Porod]

Was this a particularly difficult job (for someone of moderate mechanical skill) to do!

 

[sdpatt]

Well, the car is back on the ground and rolling with a new lease on life. After having the car in the garage since the start of last Saturday's timing belt (et. al.) job, it was good to see the engine turning on its own and the car pulling smoothly down the road. I had unplugged the DIS module and cranked the engine until the oil light extinguished. I then reconnected the DIS and fired the engine up in the first revolution or two.

The first errands were to take the 86th oil change to O'Reilly's for recycle and to return the unused set of three National cam seals. I had also purchased the Fel-Pro TCS45870 seal set from RockAuto.com and found that the OEM camshaft seals were in fact, sourced from Fel-Pro.

Tom, I don't at this time have a micrometer, but I shall attempt to acquire one to answer your question and to add to my ever growing tool supply.

luigisho, I had thought about replacing the mains also, but the history of their toughness and the opportunity for me screwing up during their more complex replacement, I decided to pass.

dkautumna, I used Kurt Metros' web site and the Chilton's service manual for the instructions. I could certainly add more detail to the procedure and may do so when I have more time. I am scheduled to travel for a nearby valve gapping Sunday before I really go back to work next Monday. Somehow, today at 2:00 PM, when the engine was once again running smoothly, it felt like the start of my vacation. Knowing that I had all that work I wanted to do on my car over these two weeks off work was weighing heavily on my shoulders. You may want to remind me later or... check below. See Kurt's page or service manual for torque values.

rangerj, yes, I used the standard sized bearings and no, I didn't see any damage on the crankshaft journals. The bearings were worn, but worn very smoothly and over a long period of time. This engine was not in danger of seizing any time soon I believe.

I used the plastigage as recommended by the Kurt Metros web site and after measuring the first new bearing to be on the tight side of the range, didn't think is was worth the extra stressing of the rod bolts to install each rod cap twice. I used a staggered torqueing of the bolts over about 5 steps to get to the high value of the torque range. I understand that the oversized bearings were designed for those cases where the crank journals had to be ground down to rework the surface. When you see the photo of the journal, you will see that the finish looks like chrome plating.

Porod, it was not so difficult as it was a new procedure with ominous possibilities if done poorly. Having just finished a front end 60K on Saturday, I would say that the bearing replacement has about the same magnitude of disassembly to perform the task as the timing belt job. However, all the work is done from under the car. I only had the car on jackstands, so the space was tight compared to using ramps. Since my exhaust manifold nuts came off easily, this part would be much more difficlut in the rust belt states. The bearing replacement alone took about two hours of slow, steady, careful, double checking work. The basic steps are as follows.

Search keys: connecting rod bearing replacement procedure

1.. Disconnect negative battery terminal.
2.. Drain oil, temporarily install new filter.
3.. Remove O2 sensors.
4.. Remove manifold nuts and cat ****** bolts.
5.. Remove Y-pipe.
6.. Remove oil level sensor.
7.. Remove starter.
8.. Remove oil pan bolts and nuts.
9.. Remove oil pan (there are interferences).
10. Remove oil pickup tube.
11. Remove windage tray.
12. Remove bearing girdle.
For each cylinder:
13. Loosen the two rod end cap nuts and unscrew a few turns.
14. With the 13mm socket and extension still on the nut, tap on the socket extension with a hammer to separate rod end.
15. Use non-scratching means to slide bearing halves so they can be removed.
16. Lubricate new bearings where they contact the crankshaft journal with assembly **** or lithium grease.
17. Install new bearings with tabs at the indentions in the rod and rod cap.
18. Gently install rod end cap and torque to specs, 1st stage 22-26lb-ft, 2nd 33-37lb-ft.
19. Rotate the crank to position the next two rod ends.
Reinstall each component that was removed in steps 1-12 in the reverse order with the following exceptions.
20. Add new gasket to oil pickup tube.
21. Install new oil pan gasket and silicone. If reusing a good condition old gasket, use PermaTex Ultra Black silicone.
22. Install oil pan, torque 11-17lb-ft.
23. Clean, sand contact points on starter.
24. Use new sealant on oil level sender.
25. Use new donut gasket on exhaust ******.
26. Use Anti-seize on O2 sensors and manifold nuts.
27. Refill new filter with oil and refill crankcase with oil.
Once everything is back together:
28. Unplug DIS and crank until OIL light extinguishes.
29. Reconnect DIS and start engine.
30. Set idle speed programming.

 

[projectSHO89]

Scott,

Nice writeup! I'll be putting this on my "to-do" list for the spring.

Can you make up a parts list with sources and pricing for the bottom end work for the benefit of all?

Thanks,

Steve

 

[luigisho]

I finally got to see those pics. As bad as those look, for the mileage, they aren't nearly as bad as many other pics of bearings with alot less miles. Especially considering it tows a boat now and then.

Well done and nice write up too BTW.

 

[yamahaSHO]

When is a good time to replace the connecting rod bearings? I have 64k on the motor now, I know thats a little early but when, 100k,150k...?