Big Ends

[Brett G]

Is it common for the big end bearings to go on these cars??
I was driving down the motorway the other day when I thought I heard a knocking/rattling sound and I don't know quite how long it was knocking for as I had my stereo on to drown out the whistling doors!!!! As I turned my stereo down it seemed to almost get worse and louder within seconds, I had no visual warnings but forgot to look at my oil pressure, it seemed to be running on all four cylinders and the rattling did sound and feel like big ends! I pulled on to the hard shoulder and as I dropped the clutch the oil light came on and the engine just dropped past idle to nothing. I haven't tried to start it or anything since.
Has anyone experienced anything similar or know whether it could just be big end shells?
My oil level was fine and the car had recently been serviced (mobil 1)
If the big ends have gone could I get away with just replacing the shells?
Is it possible that the oil pump has failed? if so how hard would it be to replace?
Thanx in advance guys :roll:

 

[Fast Guy]

It could be an oil pump, but you'd need to run the engine to confirm this, preferably with a mechanical pressure guage measuring the pump pressure.
Did you check your oil level after this occurred? It's not unknown (but rare) for and oil filter to come loose after a service.
If you're lucky and there's no wear on the crank you could get away with changing the shells, but the crank will need measuring to see it it's in tolerance. I'm not sue if you can get undersize shells, (you can for most cars tho I think)
Use it as an excuse to fit a stroker kit.

 

[Brett G]

The oil level was fine, in fact it was slightly over the max the next day, could that be a possible cause? overfilled?
What's a stroker kit? How much is it? and is it easy to fit?

 

[Fast Guy]

Overfilling you oil slightly won't do any damage (but can sap power). Overfilling it alot can do damage.
A stroker kit is a new set of pistons/rods and crank designed to increase the capacity (and power) of your engine by increasing the bore and stroke (stroker) of your internals. They aren't cheap costing thousands (about £2k-£5k) and not realy what you need to solve your problem

 

[zia]

does the car knock when idling or when there is load applied on it? are you certain weather they are big end or main bearing gone?

zia

 

[paul stride]

i killed my big end bearings this year ended to having a full rebuild as the metal from the bearings got inside the engine causing loads of damage

 

[Brett G]

I haven't turned it over since but I'm sure it would be knocking on idle and more under load!
It sounded quite drastic when it happened so until I investigate further I think turning it over could only do more damage

 

[zia]

your isn,t h reg grey gtir is it?

zia

if not it must have been somebody else i saw couple week ago at a tuner
the car was knocking on at certain rev range and the guy said he,d had rebuilt and only repalced one piston due to previous failure. whatever you do don,t take any short cuts

 

[Brett G]

No mine's black! And it just gave up quite suddenly it was running beautifully before this and I had recently fitted a new-ish standard turbo.
I just wish I had some ramps and a decent garage to work on it then this sort of work wouldn't be so bad!

 

[Fast Guy]

Have you tried a compression test? The last time my head gasket went on my previous car, it sounded like the bearings starting to go. I drove it a further 200miles and it just slowly got worse and worse until it sounded like a hammer drill and it was on 3 cylinders. I couldn't be arsed to sort it. The guy who bought it and fixed it said it was the head gasket blowing between 2 cylinders that was causing piston slap which was the knocking I could hear. I'll take his word for it as I have no need to disbelieve him.

 

[Anonymous]

From what I have read on here its hard to blow the big end on a gtir its supposed to be pretty over engineered as standard.

Dan

 

[Brett G]

Thanks guys To be honest I have just put it in the garage and tried to forget about it till next month now cos whatever it is it'll be toooo expensive for me to fix this month (it always is!!!!)
I don't really know where to start with it, if it is more than the big ends?? And even if it is the big ends then the metal from the shells has prob done some real damage to the engine !
Do any of you have any advise on what I should do if the engine is buggered? ie a reasonable place where i can get one? what one should i get? Who fits them?
Re-build? What mods? all with reasonable cost in mind??
Any advise will be greatly appreciated

 

[Edd]

do a compression test first

 

[Brett G]

Cheers Edd I will do that asap!
Sorry for all the questions but what is the procedure for a compression test and where can I get hold of the tooling for it?
Could the head gasket really sound like big ends (metal on metal)? and could it have caused any other probs? If it is the head gasket what reasonable improvements should I make with the head off?
Maybe I should have numbered all of those questions!!! :roll:

 

[Edd]

you can buy compression tester from halfords, about £10-15, it explains how to do it on there, pretty simple, just take top mount off and plugso ut and test eash cylinder for its compression

 

[Brett G]

I just thought about something... Or rather my dad did: Could the head gasket make the oil light come on as this is what happened as the revs dropped off!
(Oil level was normal to high-ish when I looked at it the next day)

 

[jasegould]

Have you started it since..it will have to be started eventually, and best to do it with someone who knows what to look/listen for.

Any garage you take it to will start it first to help diagnose the fault.

 

[paulrandy]

Sounds like it's spun a bearing, drop the sump and baffle plates off and see if there's any up/down front/back play in the big ends, won't cost you anything to check apart from a couple of hours and a bit of gasket paste.

 

[Brett G]

Do you think that it could've caused other damage if the shells have failed??
I really hope not as I've spent so much on my R lately just keeping it on the road as I'm sure you lot can relate to!!!!
I will take the sump off and have a look on my next 4 days off, I just hope this is a fixable problem that I can do by myself!

 

[otter]

big end

My sunny did exactly the same thing on the motorway.
Got a local garage to strip it and turned out 2b the big ends. Other than that every thing else other than the clutch seems 2b ok, luckily!
Dunno about turbo though. Should b ok.
Cranks just bin sent away so al just have2 wait and see.
Hopefully it wont need 2much taken off. Dont fancy buying 1of them aswell!