New snag in project Astrid: rod bearing

[abscate]

Veektor: I looked at Pelicanparts and saw the set was $51.00 - I think you may have bought 5 sets.

If you've got five sets you have enough for a race. Place your bets and watch out of the high rollers.

[veektor]

Herman, if you are right, I will be a happy man with lots of spare cash for other maintenance needs. I am quite certain, however, after diligently reading the product descriptions from multiple vendors (FCP, Pelican, and Volvo dealers) that 'rod bearing set' refers to the two shells, one top, and one bottom. The main bearing set is more reasonable at $129 (FCP) for a bunch of bearings, but the repair manual talking about red/blue/yellow bearings makes my head spin right now.

As for the other items, oil pickup gasket set with anaerobic sealant was the very first thing I ordered for this Volvo, before I tore into the engine, because my assumption was that knocking noise was valve slap due to oil starvation. After I removed the oil pan I found that PCV passages were terribly clogged, so my follow up order included the PCV kit from FCP. I'm going to wait until I'm confident with my rod bearing task before installing the PCV and oil pan gaskets.

To your question "how hard it is to pull a main bearing", I think it's a matter of about 20+ bolts holding the intermediate section to the cylinder block. If I am lucky, the crankshaft will stay attached to the flexplate and torque converter, and will not fall down to the driveway. I'll have to read the repair manual when I get home, but I think to reassemble I would have to use the same anaerobic sealant as for the oil pan. I think you are absolutely right that I should take a look, because if main bearings are toast, then my $200 on rod bearings will be a waste. Maybe it is not as much work as I am imagining.

[SuperHerman]

Well time will tell when the package arrives. Looking at the Federal Mogul website, although the part numbers don't seem to match, it reflects that it has 5 in it. One listing on Ebay says complete set. Just saying and I could be wrong.

As for the color dots - same thing with many cars. As I understand it the factory measure the case after production and depending on results match it with the closest color to get the tolerances right - I believe the crank is fixed as machining it is extremely exact. Taking off the crank caps will tell you the color, but from what I see for parts the aftermarket only has one size.

I have only gone to crank bearing level on a Subaru and VW engine. Nothing difficult - just getting there is the hard part. I bet the R forums should have plenty of info.

[veektor]

The bearings have arrived, but nether the weather, nor my work schedule have not been favorable to working outside. I just wanted to provide an update on rod bearings. The "set" refers to one pair of shells, so no windfall of bearings for me.

[veektor]

I am still preparing the house for sale, which has a potential of profiting a few bucks, so my $500 damsel in distress has been rather low on priority list. But the weather has warmed up in Kansas, and I found myself unsupervised for a few hours on a day off from work, so I decided to spend some time with Astrid. To recap my situation, the car was sitting on two towers of 4x4 lumber, drained of oil, with the knowledge that I have specks of metal floating through crankshaft oil passages from #2 bearing, and other rod bearings were getting scored. I have received a lot of great advice on this subject, but I still cannot afford the time required to inspect the crankshaft main bearings. I needed to decide if I could in one day get it back to running condition, then see if it can be driven 40 miles to the new house, or at least 20 feet to drive up on the trailer.

I replaced the #2 bearing to stop the crankshaft from further destruction. I did not replace other bearings because I need to remove the stuck metal chunks from the oil passages. I cleaned the PCV passage in the oil pan and the one in engine block, but have not disconnected or tried to replace any other PCV components. I reattached the oil pan without anaerobic seal because I fully intend to take it back down in a few weeks. I poured 5 quarts of the cheapest oil I had on hand, tightened up the spark plugs, coils, and gave it a crank.

The engine started up (woo-hoo!), the loud knocking is gone thanks to new bearing. I can still hear some slapping in the valves above 2000 RPM, and there is white smoke coming out of the dipstick tube. I freaked out at first, thinking that perhaps I have a compression ring problem on one of the cylinders, but searching the symptoms seems to point toward the clogged PCV. If I have another day to play with Astrid I may tackle the PCV replacement (I have the cheaper kit, without $200 hose), but right now I am at least happy to know that I can drive the car up onto a trailer. I think that is my best bet: tow the car to my new home, and when the dust settles from house move, I can remove the engine for a proper inspection of crankshaft and main bearings.

[abscate]

[MDK]

Hey guys... just like to interject here if I may
The moisture on #2 is suspicious..also the flame trap ( PVC) ... however, draining the oil and refilling with diesel fuel and letting it idle for a while will remove sludge problem without an unnecessary teardown... maybe

[veektor]

Hey guys... just like to interject here if I may
The moisture on #2 is suspicious..also the flame trap ( PVC) ... however, draining the oil and refilling with diesel fuel and letting it idle for a while will remove sludge problem without an unnecessary teardown... maybe

I hear you on #2 moisture. It happens to be the same cylinder as the crushed rod bearing, so I was willing to consider those related. Just in case, though, I swapped the coil packs between #2 and #1. I figured this way I could determine if misfire was only because of bearing failure, or if ignition was also contributing. There are no misfire codes right now, which at least tells me the coil packs are good. I will eventually do a compression test on all cylinders, just to make sure there is nothing else going on with #2.

As for unnecessary teardown, I saw a metal flake in the oil passage on the crankshaft journal. It was almost as big in diameter as the oil passage, which was restricting oil flow to that bearing and creating friction. I don't know how many of them are in the lubrication system, but even one is one too many. I can't blow them out without crankshaft coming out completely, unless there is a trick I'm not aware of.

[veektor]

I wanted to provide an update to this dormant thread. I've moved into the new house, then spent a few months remodeling the kitchen, and catching up on a bunch of maintenance, which kept project Astrid on the back burner. Having finished the kitchen, I am taking a break from house repairs to having some fun with cars again.

Got the engine pulled out. All the people who say it's better to remove it together with the transmission are not lying. I'm a stubborn idiot, and succeeded in getting engine out by itself, but I broke the crankshaft position sensor bracket in the process. Strongly considering getting the tranny out, attaching to the engine, before putting them both back in.

Now the engine is on the stand in my garage, so I can work without being dependent on the weather. Waiting for the weekend to tear into it. I'll provide another update once I get the crankshaft out.

[veektor]

I've put a lot of time over the holidays into this engine, and so far I am not encouraged by what I have found. I am starting to think that I need to go the engine-swap route, after all. I know that it is possible to rebuild, but I can't do the proper crank journal and engine block measurements to properly size the main bearings. Taking the engine to a machine shop was never a part of my plans, either. This was supposed to be a cheap project.

I hate to throw in the towel after getting this far, but I would hate even more to do a willy-nilly rebuild, then have the engine fail again after a year.

PCV passages were clogged really good. I thought this would be gooey stuff, but I was surprised that it resembled plumbing calcification from hard water.

Metallic oil oozed from the VVT hub.

Metal shavings in main bearings.

Oiling passage on #4 was plugged up really good.