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What to expect after spun rod bearing

belize1334

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 18, 2003
Messages
3,316
Location
Bozeman, MT
Well I picked up the '90 TSI that I mentioned in the General Discussions Forum. I haven't yet decided if it's a fix and sell or if I'm gonna pick the bones. The owner's assessment (and I have to agree after hearing the motor while we were loading it on the trailer) is that it's got some NASTY rod knock...probably a spun bearing. He said that he found metal in the motor oil when it first happened. So the question is, what kind of damage can I expect it to have caused to other parts of the engine. I'm thinking that the crank MAY be reusable but since it was "polished" but an unknown builder I'm tempted to just write it off. I'm more concerned that the metal may have worked it's way through the oil passages and clogged/scored various surfaces. Cam journals come to mind. It also has a '90 OFH and I'm thinking I might have to ditch the heat exchanger which is likely filled w/ metal at this point.

The owner says that it happened shortly after installing ARP everything on an engine refresh. Oddly, he DID resize the rods but DIDN'T reline the mains. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/dunno.gif
 

Things will be tricky, but alot of stuff is still salvagable. On mine, I tore everything down, sh*t-canned the crank as it was out-of round. Oil pump was scarred up a little bit so it got canned, metal in the OFH and in the aftermarket oil cooler. The cams looked fine though. The metal killed the turbo bearings. I hot-tanked the head, the block, the oil-cooler. Just pretend you're a tweaker and there's bugs hiding in there and CLEAN.
 

prove_it

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 3, 2008
Messages
4,201
Location
Sioux Falls, SD
^1 /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/rofl.gif
I felt like a tweaker when I spent about 15 hours cleaning all my enigne pieces.
 

Wizardawd

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 7, 2007
Messages
1,323
Location
Franklin, NC
Sometimes you can get lucky and a supposed spun rod bearing is actually a spun BS bearings. The damage isn't as severe, but the sounds are very similar and sounds like the same place too. Will also leave metal shavings in pan. The one i recall, other than the spun BS bearings, the piston/rods have starved a little for oil and they were almost locked up. Motor was rebuilt and doing fine today.

That and it's not that common for a 6-bolt to spin a rod bearing.

WIz
 

belize1334

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 18, 2003
Messages
3,316
Location
Bozeman, MT
Thanks for the input. I'll just have to play it by ear and see what it looks like once it's pulled apart.
 
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