OK - please indulge an ignorant question(s).
I opened this thread because the topic sounded interesting, but it was not exactly what I expected. I anticipated it would be general/theoretical and not engine-specific. I know nothing of this particular engine, but it sounds like you all know it well. This is a car I've considered buying someday, so a little skin in the game (little). I know you guys are very knowledgeable, so I ask:
My take is - wholly cow - if big end bearings are bashing about enough to make that noise people are worried about, they are hearing it over the top of head noise, combustion noise, and induction noise, auxiliary motor and belt noise, yada, yada, yada. It has to be LOUD, which implies some tremendous force, and undampened (so cavitation as a cause makes sense, since F=MA and cavitation massively increases "A"). This would have to result in premature failure - is that born out by field use and observations? How big an issue is this with this huge run of vehicles?
Some of these vehicles have to be getting by now into pretty high mileage, is there even anecdotal evidence of anything?
