I was replacing my oil pan gasket today cause it had a slight leak. I have been having this knock on startup when the car has cooled down. So while I was replace in the gasket I thought I should check the rods to see if they were tight and all. Upon inspection of rod #1 (where I hear the knocking on start up) I noticed that I can wiggle it up-down, left-right. Anyways I am gonna replace the bearing with 1 size thicker. I pulled the top of the rod onto the crank and no wiggle, so can I replce just the bottom? Also all the other rods have a VERY slight wiggle left-right, not up-down though. Do these also need thciker sizing.

Also can I get away with just switching out the lower halves? PLEASE HELP!!!!

Also if anyone has AIM please let me know so I can message you. When i rebuilt this motor I didnt plastigauge the rods. I went by the codes. The funny thing is the rods and crank have only about 50k. Would this require thivker sizes already?

Thanks


[Modified by CivicEK.PDX, 11:05 AM 7/10/2002]

 

How did the bearing look??
Were the rod bolts loose when you checked the play?
You should always plastigage the bearing clearances.
I ahve AIM, you can hit me up later on today.

 

Your are lucky if you fix this with a new bearing now and thats it. Just expect the worst, the final outcome will be better. Repalce both bearing halves. The top ones wont be difficult at all, just slip the old one out and the new one in. The other bearings are probably ok, but your right there so check them. Better now than on the side of the road someday.

 

I am gonna go get some plastigauge right now...all the plasti I had got smushed. I basiaclly wanted to know if there is some freeplay. Also when you use the plasti gauge you set the numbers parrellel with the journal or across? thanks