Replacing rod bearings

My son has a 91 ST with the 1.6 engine. Recently I added a quart of oil and forgot to put the oil cap back on. My son drove the car 20-30 miles before realizing something was wrong. Now it has a rod knock.

The car is in pretty bad shape - needs a lot of body work, so replacing the motor just isn't worth it. However, I can get a set of rod bearings pretty cheaply and I was thinking about throwing them in and seeing what happens. I would be glad to get another couple thousand miles out of the car before sending it off to the automotive graveyard.

My question is: is this one of those cars where you can drop the oil pan and replace the rod bearings without disturbing the engine? Are there any special complications or difficulties?

Thanks!

Greg

um i just got done resealing my cars engine a 90 celica with a 1.6 now are you sure thats whats making the noise and if not please xplain the sound and i can help ya out if its a rod knock its not easily fixed you may be able to get in from the bottom but you might wann wear a mask can get really oily down there and better not slip with your hands lol big mess if the knock had bent your rods then i would put a nice for sale sign on it if ya thinks its not worth it unless you can repair it yourself im sur eim not answering anything but i have had every thought run in my head and i keep ending up wanting to just blow it up if ya cant fix it sell it to some one who can or just run it til she dies.

oh and if ya wana get rid of it let mr know ill take it off your hands.my email is [email protected] i need a couple parts cars.

theres slim to no chcnce that leaving the oil cap off will produce rod nock, if anything a little bit of oil came out (if any at all, the oil squirters on cams arent very powerfull) the only thing i could see is a bent vavle or such from improper lubrication, but i doubt its rod nock

and tehres no reason to try and change the brearings out from undernearth, chances are the crank is scored pretty bad from the rod knock and would have to be re gound and polished up..

Thanks for the responses! I needed to add 2 1/2 quarts of oil, so that's how much I had lost out of the filler hole. A neighbor of mine, who is a mechanic and is very good, listened to the engine and immediately said "rod knock". He also told me that the reason I lost so much oil is because with the overhead cams, the lubricating system is designed to pump a lot oil to the top end and it was going out the hole.

I had tried myself to isolate the noise using a rubber hose up to my ear, but it's kind of hard to find a good place to really listen to the block. It just seemed easier to ask the expert.

I have changed rod (and main) bearings on a triumph spitfire through the oil pan and that was a pretty easy job. I climbed under the celica this morning just to look and can see that removing the oil pan is going to be a bit of a bother with the crossmember and exhaust pipe in the way. My initial hope was that the bearings, being softer, had taken most of the hammering and the crank might be in OK shape (it was only driven 20-30 miles with the oil cap off and the oil level wouldn't have dropped immediately). At any rate I may still drop the pan to take a look, but didn't want to unbutton everything if the bearings were impossible to access through the oil pan. Figured I ask first...

It's my son's car and he needs to drive it into Philadelphia to go to school so I was a little concerned with the engine blowing up one cold and rainy night in a lousy part of town. So we've taken it off the road for the time being, but it's a good little car and gets great mpg so I wouldn't mind if I could get it going again. But the body has quite a few dents, the doors won't lock, the truck hinges are bent etc etc so it's not worth investing too much money.

If it doesn't work, I'll give the car away to anyone who is willing to tow it. I'm in the suburbs of Philadelphia if you're interested. I'll keep you posted.

Thanks again!

Greg

i was wondering if i can have some parts off of it
i need a stereo bezel and door panels i can come down for it and maybe more parts but nothing huge

yes, you can change the rod bearing from below, but to do so you must spin the crank ALOT...witch isnt good for the mains

and fyi its not possible that all the oil spit out the whole, its pretty much like...a back seated vavle, you can pour in, but they way the little lip is set up inside, alot of oil is not going to come out

btw ive ran my st all the way to redline with the valve cover off and didnt spill a single drop outside the head, your son musta been redlining it and taking corners real fast then


did you even find any oil in your engine bay afterwards? and its easy, just unbolt your header and take off the crossmmember and youll haveto undo both the bottem motor mounts, and take the sway bar off...good luck, its no easy task

just part it out is your best bet then whatevers left junk it and get 50 bux

Just as a followup, I put the new rod bearings in (which was pretty easy btw), and it still knocks although now at 2500rpm and up only instead of all the time. The number 2 and 3 cylinder bearings were pretty hammered, one I had to pry off in little pieces. The oil hole in the one con rod was completed blocked with what I assume was bits of bearing and it wouldn't pick clean.

So the operation was a failure, but was at least worth a try. At this point, I'll be offering the car up to the list for free and then junking it if no one wants.

Thanks for the advice anyway.

Greg

hey ill take it heres my number 518 528 4422 or my email [email protected] please get back to me

hey lil coat, if your parting it out when you get itm pm me