I have a 94 civic with a 98 lx bottom and a 94 ex top the #4 rod bearing is loose so I went to replace it today but I cant ge the damn cap off! I was told you can replace the bearings without removing the main cap but I cant get a good grip on the rod cap to pry it off please help!

 

 

Any ideas why the bearing just failed like that?

 

WOW.... i have never seen a bearing that bad before....
most likely it was from driving like a dick...no offense. hondas have a tendency of spinning bearings when they have been beat on hard, lots and lots of shifting at redline or past. could have been starved for oil. so you may wanna look at the oil pump and pick up tube. either way your crank is shot now, that is almost for sure. you might as well find another bottom end with lower miles.
and rebuild the new lower, new head gasket and then youll have a almost new engine.
adam

 

^^ +1. dont even waste your time/money trying to rebuild with that crank. it's bound to be ovalized now.

 

thats whats happens to the y7 and y8 bottom ends with one oiling port to the rod bearings. they cant take the abuse like the old a6 or z6 bottom ends

 

ive seen a lot of z6 bottom ends with thrown bearings as well though....its hard shifts at high rpm's being driven by those that dont really know the peoper way to drive
adam

 

I bought this short block from someone else and it had a bad water pump, the car has been on the road for 2 weeks now has about 500 miles since I put it in. Crank is perfect btw its not even scared! I was very surprised! Should I replace the main bearings too while Im there ?

 

mic out the rod jornal its almost guarenteed to be oblong. also the crank if its in good shape visually may not be good when its mic'ed have it looked at. how many miles was it driven with the spun bearing. ive never seen one wear to the point that the bearing split in an incorrect spot and the crank come out ok...id take it to a machine shop and have te numbers ran on it.
adam

 

To get the cap off, hit the side of the cap with the handle of a hammer, not the head. Don't slam it, just a solid tap from one side and then the other should do it.

The manual says to mic it in something like 4 or 8 positions. You gotta have pretty accurate equipment to check this. If it's off, get a new crank or better yet a D16Z6 or A6 block. Don't get the crank ground, the nickel coating is very important for longevity on these cranks.

If you have any scratching on the journal, you can use emery cloth to smooth it out. Then a new set of bearings on that journal.

As for changing the other bearings, I have heard that they are either good or bad, not "inbetween" that much. Make sure to check your tolerances. It's actually fine to reuse bearings. They sort of seat or wear in or something, I'm not sure, but you can make more power with used bearings than new.

 

At first it was just a ticking sound couldnt even hear it witht he windows down but after it got a little louder (28 miles) I pulled off the freeway and idled home (3 miles).

 

Did you figure out why it happened ?

low oil pressure ? no oil at oil ? just hard driving ?

 

I would just overhaul it! you probably have othr hot bearings half burnt, and with the bearing that bad I would get the crank turned or ditch it 4 a new one.

 

Previous owner over heated it.

 

I bought a d16y7 complete swap for $300, sold the tranny for $50 (buyer informed me it had 3rd gear grind) pulled the head and sold it for $40, sold the ac compressor for $20 ect... Put a z6 head on the y7 block and a new tbelt and water pump (original water pump was leaking bad out the hole) rebuilt the head completely and lightly ported it. Lightly ported the intake and painted the intake, fuel rail and valve cover pink for my wife. The engine sounded fine at first but after a few days of driving the exhaust became disconnected because I didnt have the right bolts for it. I drove it for 2 weeks disconnected till the cat hit the ground and I took it to a muffler shop and had all leaks repaired. When I cranked it up to leave the shop it sounded fine except when I reve it a little to get it off the rack the engine had a tick on the way down from reving. I was 31 miles from home and went straight home when I entered the freeway it sounded fine adn I kept the RPMs under 2.5k with NO noise. after about 10 minites it turned into a light ticking that could only be heard with the windows up. after another 10 minites it got alittle loader but I still could not hear it without rolling up the windows. After nother 10 minites I could just bearly hear it with the windows down so I exited the free way droped it down to second gear and idled on the feeder all the way home.