Heavier oil for bad bearing?

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Hi all, I think I've got a rod bearing that's going bad on our '95 Odyssey (knocking under moderate and light load on the engine that disappears when I pull the spark plug wire off cylinder number 3). I'm going to drop the oil pan this weekend and have a look to see if anything feels loose when I try and wiggle it. It's going to be a short time before I'm able to really try and fix this either by trying to replace the bearing (if that's what it is) or replace the engine if that looks like the better way to go.

Since I'll be pulling the pan anyway, I'll be refilling with fresh oil; is it worth using a heavier oil to try and minimize further damage or will that just cause more problems?

Thanks,

Greg
 
yeah I think the crank caps are part of a girdle so really getting a good look at the rods might not really be possible but I should be able to push on the rod end caps to see if there's any movement.
 
Sure, try a thicker oil first before the expense is a good idea. Shell Rotella T6 5w40 synthetic would be my choice. Was like throwing a blanket over a rattly old Corolla I had. Walmart.
 
Thicker might be a reasonable temporary crutch. The Rotella synthetic would work fine, I'm sure, but for a potential short drain on an engine that's needing some work, I wouldn't use the expensive synthetic. It's summer in Alberta. Grab any 15w-40 conventional if you want to go thicker. Right now, WM has the 5 gallon pails of 15w-40 for just a little more money than one gallon of T6. The smaller jugs of 15w-40 are cheaper still.
 
great replies all, thanks for that. KNew I could count on BITOG.

Since it's going to be a short interval I'm going to go with 15W40.

Chevyboy; it had approx 295k kms when the noise started and currently has about 301k kms.
 
You know what cylinder it is and are doing a pan drop so why not just pop the cap and change it? If it didn't score the crank it should add only a few min to the job.
I would get a standard size and use plastguage on it to check the fit and go from there.
 
are they that simple to change in a Honda? (without pulling the engine, that is).

The bearings in this case aren't quite a standard size, they vary from cylinder to cylinder and the size needed is stamped on the side of the cap/rod assembly. Part of the work when I drop the pan is to see what size was in there to begin with.

thanks for the ideas
 
Yes they are. Pop the oil pickup and windage tray.
Rods caps are marked I, II, III, IV IIRC. You may find any combination in the same engine.
Get the appropriate bearing shells but use plasiguage anyway to check the clearance on a used crank.

You can lightly polish the journal with 1000 or 1200 wet and dry and a piece of rope before taking the measurement.
The biggest part of this job is getting the pan off.
 
OK, I dropped the pan this weekend and had a look. I found there wasn't anything obvious (to me) on the bottom end of the engine; the rods felt tight and nothing looked overheated but I did find flakes of metal in the pan.

It also looks to me like it is indeed possible to do the rod bearings in-car as noted by Trav (thanks) but I think you'd need to work around the main cap-bridge because it's bolted on with the same fasteners holding the main caps.

Thanks for the help all.

Greg
 
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