I'm considering replacing my main bearings in-car. Any lessons learned, advice, critique is greatly appreciated. Here is my plan:

Remove the oil pan
Remove the bearing cap
Get the bearing cap halves out and get colors of existing bearings - order with overnight shipping

To remove the other half, I plan to do this one at a time:
-Gently pull down on the crankshaft to try not to stress the seals
-Apply a small screwdriver to the bearing half opposite the two tab side
-Connect the Honda tool to the crank pulley and use left hand to rotate the crank opposite the two tab side while pushing with the screwdriver
-If it won't move I will gently tap on the other side with a screwdriver to try and move the bearing partially out past the tab
-Roll the crank and try again
-If it comes out a little I will grab with my fingers and try and move the crank up and down while sliding it around the crank
-Get linesmen pliers (with a cloth on teeth) and try and "pull" it out around the radius of crank

To install I plan to:
-Try and put in by hand by inserting with the one-tab end first
-Try and push it through by gently moving the crank up and down so as to not stress the seals
-If necessary, roll the crank and gently push the bearing to try and get it to turn

If none of this works to put them back in I will be having a very long weekend. Question - can I rotate the crank the opposite direction - I think the manual said NOT to do this but I can't remember why.

 

Rolling the bearings out probably wont be that hard. Rolling the new ones in will be. You can't really pull the crank down at all It's still attached to the transmission at one end and runs through the oil pump at the other end.

At the end of the day you can't clean the crank up this way, can't really get a clean surface for the back side of the bearing to sit up against and it will spin the new bearing soon.

 

Not trying to be a smarta$$ - I sincerely appreciate your advice. Just trying to understand why you think it would spin from not wiping because the Service Manual calls to lubricate the bearings prior to installation. Plus since the oil is pumped through the openings I was thinking that some of it was supposed to pump all around the bearing to maintain the liquid seal? It calls to wipe them off to plastigage and that I understand, but it doesn't say which side to lubricate it just says lubricate.

 

You lubricate the side that run against the crank journal. The other side has to be perfectly clean and dry. If you get oil between the bearing and the cap and the block and bearing you're going to have spun bearings. I'm not trying to be dickish about this, but you're really setting yourself up for failure doing it this way.

 

I don't think that at all. I appreciate the warning! What it tells me is that I have a little extra work to do to find a way to clean behind there the best I can and hope like heck the new one will slide into place. Could still be a long weekend!

 

Like I said, it needs to be perfectly clean. You're not even supposed to touch the new bearing with your hands, the acid from your skin can etch the bearing. If there's any dirt in under the bearing you'll never get an accurate measurement for clearance either. Good luck if you're going to do it this way, but you're way ahead to just pull the engine and do it right the first time.

 

OK, for better or worse I was able to complete the job last Tuesday night after getting the main bearings from the dealer. I think overall, this job can be done in car, but I agree 100% that it is much better to pull the engine (I will probably pull mine in 6 months as I will have more time). I took a lot of extra effort to try and dry out all the oil behind the crankshaft and I think I was successful but time will tell.

Anyway, I took a lot of pictures thinking I'd have this great DIY, but in the end they just seemed to be crap so not sure about that one just yet. Here are my learnings and pics:

1) This job should definitely be done with any oil pump work because I had way more clearance when mine was out.
2) Pro on another forum was dead on that a pick was the way to go - I was easily able to fish the bearings out with the exception of one
3) I fabricated a special tool using my favorite dremmel fitting and an old tiny screw driver. While it wasn't the best for not impacting the tab area of the block, it seemed to do the trick
4) I cleaned behind the crank by getting a large screw clamp and sliding it around the crank with a piece of shammy cloth - I feel like I got quite a bit of oil
5) I followed up with some shots of brake cleaner and then shammy - I actually think it was pretty clean
6) I was able to plastigage by using the PG on each point of the bearing girdle (see pic) - while it didn't come in quite as tight as I would have liked it, it was definitely within the service limits
7) I found a sweet video that helped me get the bearings back in - actually learned a lot as well (about tang!). Used a 90 degree screw driver instead of a cotter pin



8) After plastigage I lubricated the crankshaft and kept turning it and adding lube - I feel like this adequately lubricated the area between bearings and crank
9) I pulled my rod bearings and got the lubricant off the back - couldn't tell but it look like one of them may have taken a loop around but not sure - the tang was all good! In any case, I cleaned the back, dried them out, etc.
10) I made sure each bearing had good crush (watch video)
11) I started the car with coils pulled and let it turn over about 10-15 times to push oil into the shaft reservoir without having the engine start
12) Per the service manual, I let it run at idle for to operating temperature and then 15 minutes beyond that.
13) A little midnight highway action, praying like heck it didn't crater on me.

So far, so good but time will tell I guess:

7801 - Stuff that's gotta come off
7802 - Torque Converter cover plate removed
7804 - Oil pan off
7806 - Oil pick up about to come off
7807 - Oil pick up off, shot of main bearing girdle
7808 - All of it sitting together - made clean work area and cleaned, lubed, covered with plastic wrap
7809 - Main bearing half - had to look at the color of the bearing on the side since I didn't have the code off the block, don't use brake cleaner. Gently rub with your finger and it will get the grime off.
7815 - clearance after removed and a shot of the tang slot
7818 - thrust bearings trying to creep around and fall out
7819 - how I turned the crank from under the car
7824 - The best frigging dremmel tool ever, could drill out superman's knee cap
7825 - "Special tool" used to pry out the main bearing via the tang tab
7851 - "Special tool" used to clean out behind the bearing (go slow and don't get metal on metal"
7851 - Hard to see but a stuck a 90 degree screw driver into the oil port, and turned the crank on the bearing (similar to video with cotter pin) to get the bearing around the crank - go slow
7854 - Plastigage on the main bearing girdle

 

Remaining pics starting with 7824: