^^^ true, but he won't know 'till it is taken apart so sadly all this is speculation right now. It is still good to get a feeling of what is out there in case it is needed.
I have seen worse then that and the rods/block was not touched, but yea have your heart set on a total loss.
Does the sun shine? Pulled the engine today and stripped off everything about down to the long block. I am going to look it over closer than last time and then make decisions from there.
Well, I missed something obvious when I had it apart last week.... One of the connecting rods (front left cylinder, the one that was making the peculier noise wehn I was turning it over by hand) is sloppy loose. All I had to do is wiggle it by hand to feel the slop. I would say at least 1/16 in of slop! :-0 Should have caught that one earlier....next time. Now the question... is anything else messed up? Should I save some money by having a shop only taking apart my short block and leaving the heads alone? I took a video of the noise..... I feel like such a newb that I missed that. Well, at least I have some more direction now...
Well if your timing belt tensioner was fubared there's a chance that you may have bent some valves also. I'd say just find an entire 2.0 longblock on the cheap and get the car back up and running.
Well, I don't know about my timing belt now... When I popped the driver's right timing belt cover off during my first engine removal, the belt was loose. Then, after I had turned the crank pulley around some taking the crank pulley off, the belt tightened back up. The tensioner had a little fluid around the cylinder, but other than that it seemed fine.Plus, the belt didn't skip any teeth on any of the pullies in the process. I really don't know what was going on with that hole thing. Regardless, I am under the impression that nothing bad can happen to the valves as long as the timing belt doesn't skip any teeth. Any opinions on that? Question, why would a connecting rod bearing fail suddenly? Seams like there would a be a little bit of progression in that. Plus, a 2.0 long block is a decent chunk of change. I am obviously trying to keep this fix as inexpensive as possible. On the other hand, this thread is getting pretty ridiculously long and I hope people aren't getting sick of it. All the help is appreciated x1,000,000 This is saving me. Thanks for the advice guys.
Well if the belt didn't skip any teeth, I wouldn't think there'd be any damage then. I'd still have the heads check out, though. The two main causes of block bearing failures are lack of oiling and extreme detonation under load. Once they start to go out, it's pretty much a snowball effect -- they are dead real quick.
high revs, heat, old oil, are a few of the things that add up to rod bearing failures. IF your connect rod is lose, yes, the rod bearing is TOTALLY GONE and it is MOST LIKELY scoring up the crank. Your heads should be fine. Combustion stroke, and exhaust strokes keep the piston DOWN and away from the contacting with the head, BUT YOU NEVER KNOW. Time to tear her apart!!!!! Take off timing belt covers, belt, valve cover, hold camshaft with cresent wrench and put 10mm hex on came gear, take of cam gears, pull off the rest of the timing belt covers, unbolt cam caps, remove cames, be careful the shim/buckets don't fall out, unbolt heads w/ 14mm 12pt socket, remove head and do the same with other side....sit back and look like the SMALL PORTs of your WRX heads. lolz
I seriously doubt that the rod bearing is completely gone, or disappeared if you will. The steel liners of the bearings are pretty tough and hard to disintegrate. It only takes a couple thousands of extra play in the rod bearing to cause a problem and make serious noise. The standard clearance for the rod bearings is .0010-.0021" You get out of that range and there is too much slace for the oil to fill and keep the two surfaces from toutching. At some point they get so thin and there is enough play for the ends of the bearing to slide over themselves, hense the term "spun bearing." I'd bet serious money that the main bearings are, for the most part, fine. The major stress in a boxer engine is on the rod bearings, and thats why the majority of bearing failures happen there. If you are comfortable with engine assembly, then you could try to rebuild it. You'd need the crank to be turned and an undersized bearing. After cleaning everything, hone, seal kit, etc you'd probably be more expensive than finding a used shortblock by a decent margain.
A bad tune will also cause some rod bearing issues.:hsugh: If you are not running enough timing you will start to get this issue. It is just like running race gas and not being tuned for it. Russ
Yup, and same thing with too much timing which will cause little mini-shockwaves down the rod while the piston is still traveling up. Timing is like porriadge -- you want Mamma Bear's bowl.
So if I can find a 2.5 shortblock for $500-1000, should I just get that and do all the work myself? No, I have not taken an engine apart before, but I do have pretty good confidence in my mechanic skills (despite not being able to fix this whole problem any sooner). Or, just bring it in and get a new shortblock mated up to my heads and ignore the tear down of anything really. Time to make some decisions....
Get a new shortblock to save you the time and hassle. You can tear your broken block down later when you have time and learn. CLEANING parts takes a good amount of time before the installation. ekk, you might need new rods. eH!! Time for new internals!!!!
I have missed the last bunch of pages of this thread, but it seems the damage is worse then expected earlier on. You just mentioned you need a 2.5 block. What year/model? I have a '00 2.5RS block at the shop. Block/crank(and rods I believe) are fine, pistons are not.
Update.... Well, as you may have heard. I am on the mad hunt for short blocks. You know where one is? I thought I would take some pictures of all the parts I am working with right now. Cams and heads are coming off next and then I have to wait for an EJ257 short block to show up.
Yeah, I pulled the shafts and valves out tonight. I have to go pick up a saw blad for aluminum and some flapper wheels for the buffing process. Should turn out decent. I have been porting everything in the process of all this work so this should be just another port job. I am planning on just re-inserting the shafts back in with the TGV caps on. Anyone have any caps that they have made? +2 for the 2.5
It was my assumption that I would need to do that to seal off the holes on each end. Some people weld the holes shut, some tap it and screw a bolt into the hole. Of what I read, leaving the shaft in seemed like the easiest option.
