As some of you know I rebuilt the engine in my 91 VR4 recently. I used a reground forged crank from NAPA. When I got the crank one of the rod journals was plugged solid with blasting material, I did my best to clean it all out and was pissed about recieving it this way but I was impatient after having to order it from half way around the country so I wasnt about to return it. I knew I should drill out the oil galleys and clean, tap and plug with set screws, I skipped this step being confident that I got it all. So for about 500 miles the car ran great but I began to hear what sounded like rod knock at around 3.5k rpm. After further investigation I determined it was in fact knock. I dropped the pan and found that I had not spun a bearing but that the rod bearing furthest from the pump was badly worn and had some of the blasting sand embedded in it. I decided to use carb cleaner and do my best to clean out the crank, polish it and slap in a new set of rod bearings and keep my fingers crossed.
Well this was going great until about 1100 miles total on the build. I once again noticed some rod knock, I had already made up my mind that I no longer really cared about the engine and had enough with it. So today I am driving it home from work and its running great when I feel a sudden loss of power. It was using full turbo power just to accelerate at all. I took the nearest exit and checked it out. It spun a bearing badly. It was clanging a banging worse then when it spun the first bearing. A interesting note is the rear turbo was also glowing bright red, but the oil pressure had dropped way of so I suspect the bad rod is in some way causing the turbo to glow not the turbo causing the racket.
So currently the car still sits at the exit because I didnt dare to drive it any further for fear of the rod going through the block or causing a fire. At this point I think I am done with this car. I know its not the cars fault but my own but its always something and I just dont have the money to keep dumping into it. Tomorrow I will get it towed home and take some good pics of her and start a for sale thread, or trade for a running base if someone is interested.
I was hesitant to post this because I know I screwed up and it will probably hurt my rep with some of you. But whatever, know you know the story and why I sit here drinking beer, a little depressed but not gonna let it get to me too much.![]()
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