Trouble finding rod bearings

[haydenm315]

My car has 95k and I'm adhering to sdpatt's recommendation that it can't hurt to change the rod bearings every 100k. I plan on having the car for a long time and want to eliminate points of failure, hence replacing wear parts ahead of time.

I thought about getting the seals, gaskets, and bearings as a spur of the moment type thing while sitting at a light. First I tried advanced auto parts. They said no. Next I tried Salvo. The guy looked through a book and got confused. I went to the toc and there were no bearings and seals for any taurus listed. Seems kinda odd beings the taurus was one of the top sellers for more than a decade. I decided to try napa. I got into somewhat of a quarrel with the guy. I told him I had a 93 taurus sho. He went on to say that it was a 3.2. I told him it was a 3.0. He gave me a you don't know what you're talking about look. I went on to explain that the automatic has the 3.2 and the manual has the 3.0. He continued to look down on me. I told him that the automatic has a slightly larger displacement engine to compensate for the extra drag in the drivetrain of the automatic. That was settled. He went on about not knowing if the bearing should be a metric or standard size. I told him it was most likely metric. He stumbled around the computer and asked another guy for help. Next he proceeded to ask me the thickness of the bearings. I told him that I thought there was a specific bearing kit for the car. He went on to say that I need to "Mike the crank". I didn't know what he was talking about so I asked if he meant using a plastigauge to check the gap. He commented that I could take my car to their shop and they would "mike" my crank. Apparantly mike is short for using a micrometer to get the thickness of the bearing. I told the guy I was gonna go on the internet and come back. It's better off this way. I know I need 2 pan seals, the bearings, and some other oil pump seal kit that I couldn't remember the exact name for. Off to the search function for that one.

Do I need to "mike" my crank to replace rod bearings? Is this guy for real? Can I add this to my list of bad experiences with mechanics and people who work in the automotive industry?

I think a search will tell me where I can get the parts, but I'd like to know where others have gotten the parts needed for doing rod bearings. Thanks people.

 

[Slo-Sho]

Go to another NAPA and tell them you want 6x Clevite 77 rod bearings p/n CB-1435. Should be in within a week. You say this is preventative maintenance, go with the "standard" size. BTW; they ran me about ~$55 bones. I would've told him to "mic" the space between his ears.

<small>[ August 11, 2003, 05:56 PM: Message edited by: Slo-Sho ]</small>

 

[haydenm315]

Slo-Sho:
Go to another NAPA and tell them you want 6x Clevite 77 rod bearings p/n CB-1435. Should be in within a week. You say this is preventative maintenance, go with the "standard" size. BTW; they ran me about ~$55 bones. I would've told him to "mic" the space between his ears.

Ok... I guess you answered my question. I was on autozone and you can choose between standard or .25,.50,.75mm oversized bearings. I'm assuming the oversized bearings are if you waited too long and chewed up the rods?

 

[haydenm315]

Slo-Sho:
I would've told him to "mic" the space between his ears.

I would have said something, however I'm an amateur and have never done this before. He caught me off guard and I didn't know what he was talking about. I'm probably going to get everything from autozone now. While I'd love to go back to napa, I think they lost their opportunity for the sale. I think he made the thing up with the mic. He was just trying to sell me an expensive bs service to take my money. I'm confident that I can get the job done, and I'm positive I don't have the money to pay some shop to take experience and the sense of accomplishment away from me.

 

[shojuan]

The oversized bearings are only for if you've had the crank turned down at a machine shop (because of damage from spun bearings most likely). As long as the engine is still operating properly on the original, standard sized bearings you will want to go with the standard sized bearing replacements. Check out http://napaonline.com for the rod bearings. I believe NAPA (and napaonline.com) is cheapest for the rod bearings and autozone.com is cheapest for the main bearing set. Shipping for both is cheap and if you live 10 miles or so from your nearest NAPA like I do you may as well order online. I spent the same getting bearings shipped to my door as I would have making the two trips to NAPA (one round trip to order, one to pick up).

I still need to install my rod bearings. I was going to replace the mains too...but I think I'll save my mains set for project 3.2. Way less work that way.

 

[haydenm315]

shojuan:
I believe NAPA (and napaonline.com) is cheapest for the rod bearings and autozone.com is cheapest for the main bearing set.

Pardon my ignorance, but is it recommended to do the main bearing set at the same time as rod bearings? What's the part number for those. I thought they were all in the same kit, but I guess not. Thanks for bringing that up rick.

 

[shojuan]

I think the general rule of thumb is that main bearings wear at half the rate (or less!) than rod bearings. Everybody who has pulled main bearings from the SHO engine seems to say the wear was far less than the rod bearing wear. Replacing the main bearings with the engine still in the car is going to be a much bigger pain in the ass than just replacing the rod bearings. It's doable (according to the people who have done it! ) but the top main bearing half isn't going to come out nearly as easy as a top rod bearing half.

part numbers:

Clevite Main Bearing Kit (has all bearings + thrust bearings) MS1773P

Clevite Rod Bearings (need 6 to replace all of them) CB1435P

 

[haydenm315]

shojuan:
I think the general rule of thumb is that main bearings wear at half the rate (or less!) than rod bearings.
part numbers:

Thanks again Rick. YOu always seem to be on top of things. I guess I'll do the mains around 200k. Seems kinda extreme to do them with only 95k.

When it comes to the phrase "lugging the engine", I'm somewhat confused. A lot of times I start forward motion with the tach sitting a small amount over 1000. It's not uncommon for me to have the clutch all the way out with revs under 1500. The revs don't usually drop when I let the clutch out and give gas if I get going the way I like to. It's smooth engagement, but I'm wondering if I should be letting the clutch out with the revs up higher like around 1500. I've been trying to preserve my clutch, and had a torn mount for a while and was taking it easy for the most part. I try to keep the revs at 2k or higher at all times. When I'm in a parking lot coasting around at a slow speed in 2nd, the revs are below 2k. Should I downshift to 1st or is it ok to coast around the lot in 2nd with the revs around 1500?

 

[Nook]

ANY machine shop worth half a crap can get you the bearings for whatever oversized application you need.

When I had my engine rebuilt, I had to have the crank turned because of a bearing that ate the crank, a d all they did was look in a book, add the amount they needed for the smaller crank journal, boom, had them that day. They were generic application performance bearings, ordered purely by size.

N

 

[sdpatt]

haydenm315:
My car has 95k and I'm adhering to sdpatt's recommendation that it can't hurt to change the rod bearings every 100k.

Please don't attribute statement's to people when you can't support them. I never wrote what you stated above. I did suggest that the nominal lifetime for the SHO's connecting rod bearings would be approximately 150,000 miles.

NAPA sells the Clevite CB1435P rod bearing sets for $7.49. That comes to a total of $44.94 for the required six sets. You are avoiding a NAPA store because of one counterperson. The best tool that you can take with you to help when ordering parts is knowledge. You need to know more about your car than they do. You can research what you really need before you ever call or show up at a car parts store. The rod bearing information is available in this forum and on several car parts outlet web sites. To borrow from an old advertising line, let your fingers do the walking and keep the unknowing salesperson from even talking.

 

[shojuan]

sdpatt:
To borrow from an old advertising line, let your fingers do the walking and keep the unknowing salesperson from even talking.

I never heard that one before!! That one is great! And so true, so true.

 

[sdpatt]

shojuan:

sdpatt:
To borrow from an old advertising line, let your fingers do the walking and keep the unknowing salesperson from even talking.

I never heard that one before!! That one is great! And so true, so true.

I made it up as I typed.

 

[haydenm315]

sdpatt
Please don't attribute statement's to people when you can't support them. I never wrote what you stated above. I did suggest that the nominal lifetime for the SHO's connecting rod bearings would be approximately 150,000 miles.

NAPA sells the Clevite CB1435P rod bearing sets for $7.49. That comes to a total of $44.94 for the required six sets. You are avoiding a NAPA store because of one counterperson. The best tool that you can take with you to help when ordering parts is knowledge. You need to know more about your car than they do. You can research what you really need before you ever call or show up at a car parts store. The rod bearing information is available in this forum and on several car parts outlet web sites. To borrow from an old advertising line, let your fingers do the walking and keep the unknowing salesperson from even talking. [/QB]

Maybe I don't recall correctly where you said it may be advantageous to do bearings around 100k. Maybe it wasn't you, or maybe I'm making it up? I strongly recall reading that inspection of bearing wear on several cars indicates that bearings could be replaced around 100k. Either way, I want to do rod bearings. Maybe I should have come to napa with the piece of paper that has the kit number. That is my fault for being unprepared. We live in a time where service at stores should be able to determine the correct parts for the application. This guy didn't know whether to use metric or standard. I told him metric but didn't know any more than that. I became confused when he asked me what bearings I needed. I thought they offered a higher quality set rather than just different sizes. It's likely everything would have gone smoothly if I said, "give me the standard set". I used to work at my friend's dad's shop on the weekend for extra cash. His dad would make the order for parts from the phone. He would give the year, model, and the part needed. He didn't need to know anything more. I'm only avoiding the napa store if I can get it all from the same place at autozone. I don't like it when people at automotive or motorcycle places try to make you feel out of place. Further inspection of the online site shows that the bearings are listed on autozone's site, but they aren't in stock.

It was my fault for not knowing that different rod bearing sizes are available. I would like to replace my bearings now so I won't have to use the oversized bearings and have my crank ground. I'm aware that my lack of experience driving 5 speed has been ******* my motor at various times. This is why I want to do the bearings.

I'm sorry to you sdpatt for misrepresenting you by 50k miles on rod bearings. I've got all the information printed out on paper to keep the salesperson from talking.

 

[haydenm315]

sdpatt
Please don't attribute statement's to people when you can't support them. I never wrote what you stated above. I did suggest that the nominal lifetime for the SHO's connecting rod bearings would be approximately 150,000 miles.

Actually.... you said between 120k-180k. Others have said to do it earlier. There are numerous nightmare posts regarding spun bearings at low mileage. I bought my car with 79k. It's got 95k now. You can't be too careful. It's defiantely not too expensive, and it gives me a chance to replace the low oil thing and the oil pan gaskets.


I would say, depending on the oil change history, every 120,000 to 180,000 miles. Poorly maintained engines have bearings that lasted less than 120,000 miles and well maintained engines have covered over 269,000 miles without bearing damage.

--------------------
Scott

 

[sdpatt]

Further inspection of the online site shows that the bearings are listed on autozone's site, but they aren't in stock.

No, it shows that they are not available. That is not the same as out of stock. I just checked. You might want to take the numbers to NAPA and get the bearings cheaper. Show that counter guy that you have done your homework and give him a chance to see that you know your car better than he does.

I have folks at several O'Reillys, several AutoZones and one NAPA that know about my car and the work I have done on it and many other like it. I have earned their professional respect by knowing my car, knowing the parts I need and helping them do their job the right way by getting me the parts I need. This is much easier for them than if they had to guess. It makes their day go by a little easier too. Work with them as if you want them to be your friend to help you take care of your car. That is their job.

 

[haydenm315]

sdpatt:

Further inspection of the online site shows that the bearings are listed on autozone's site, but they aren't in stock.

No, it shows that they are not available. That is not the same as out of stock. I just checked. You might want to take the numbers to NAPA and get the bearings cheaper. Show that counter guy that you have done your homework and give him a chance to see that you know your car better than he does.

I have folks at several O'Reillys, several AutoZones and one NAPA that know about my car and the work I have done on it and many other like it. I have earned their professional respect by knowing my car, knowing the parts I need and helping them do their job the right way by getting me the parts I need. This is much easier for them than if they had to guess. It makes their day go by a little easier too. Work with them as if you want them to be your friend to help you take care of your car. That is their job.

You're right about the availability at autozone. I was in denial and thought that if the site listed the part, they would be able to get them. I did see that not available icon but was planning on ignoring it until told otherwise. I'll be back at napa tomorrow ordering the correct parts. I'll be sure not to give them a hard time. They are the only local place I know of that can get them for me quickly. The guy was probably doing me a favor because he doesn't know the condition of my crank.

 

[luigisho]

Hayden they may only have one listing for SHO in the '93 year. Sort of like AZ doesn't have felpro gaskets listed when you look under a certain year for upper valve cover gaskets. A listing fluke. In NAPA's case it doesn't really matter since the replacement bearings are the same IIRC. I had the part # in hand when I went to NAPA to order mine. Why let them make mistakes for me? I usually don't trust the expertise of the counter person. I had to show a counterperson how to test an alternator at a PepBoys a few weeks ago. A wide range of knowledge behind the counter.

 

[DHMag]

why deal with morons at auto part stores ? just buy from the decency of your own home, online, at your PC, in your underwear. if its something i cant not buy or find online, only then will i get my part number(s) handy and head to the parts store.
since ive owned my SHO, ive found O'Reillys to be the best place to go. if you order something from them, you dont have to pay for it until its in your hands. if its not the right part, or you dont like the quality, you are not obligated to buy it.

 

[jelloslug]

why deal with morons at auto part stores ?

For me at least, quiet often my local NAPA stores' prices are quiet a bit less than the prices from NAPA online prices. Plus they will special order parts with just a phone call so I can pick them up on the way home.

<small>[ August 13, 2003, 09:25 AM: Message edited by: jelloslug ]</small>

 

[sdpatt]

Here is the post I remember making in a reply near the bottom of the thread in my own rod bearing service topic .

My engine seemed to be doing quite well with no unusual mechanical noises before I decided to change the bearings. But after reading the many posts in the Forum about bearing wear and bearing failures, I though it would be good insurance for the life of my engine to change them now. I had noticed that the sound of my engine was rougher than that of all of the engines I had serviced and thought that only the bearings could be causing it. Apparently they were, as even my wife has noticed that the engine sounds smoother and quieter. After seeing my bearings and knowing their excellent oil history, I would think that 150,000 miles would be a good milestone to consider replacing the connecting rod bearings.