turboguzzi Posted October 10, 2006 Share Posted October 10, 2006 story's a bit depressing bought two years ago my 92' legacy, got nice tips from members before buying. tnxs BTW. Car had 60K miles, was runnig great and I was ready to celebrate my first 20K miles with my car. coming back from a 50 miles trip, strange noises began, metal clattering, getting worse and wose. Limped home, did a few checks and found one big end gone BIG TIME. After all the good reliability and longevity stories I've heard here and the way the car was running, I am still under shock! Oil level was OK, no high temperature warning, really out of the blue. Anyone experienced something similar? Wondering what to do. Spare engines are rare here in italy, overhauling the enigne might be worth more than the car's worth... SOB.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idosubaru Posted October 10, 2006 Share Posted October 10, 2006 big end gone? what does that mean? the metal noise should have warranted an inspection before continuing. i'd guess oil pump related, but sounds very strange if the oil level is fine. i'd expect a leak to cause this. make sure the engine is as bad as you think, could it be something simpler? timing belt, bad pulley bearing? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
porcupine73 Posted October 10, 2006 Share Posted October 10, 2006 found one big end gone BIG TIME.Can you tell a little more please? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
turboguzzi Posted October 10, 2006 Author Share Posted October 10, 2006 motor had no leaks, have fixed the normal oil pump oil ring thing a year ago and since then motor was really dry. oil consumption wasnt low but not really exagerated. something like a quart for 800-1000 miles. big end gone means that by pocking into the pistons through the spark plug hole with a screw driver, I found the piston no.1 has a free up-down play of a few milimeters. rest are OK. have quite a lot of experience with engines and still havent seen such a major disaster happen so suddenly. a month ago I did with the car a 600 miles loop and the engine was just purring all the way. really believed that I was going to get another 50K mi form this engione without hassles. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cookie Posted October 10, 2006 Share Posted October 10, 2006 OHHHHH. that is terrible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
porcupine73 Posted October 10, 2006 Share Posted October 10, 2006 Wow that is most certainly a story of one big end that has gone unmistakably BIG! That stinks. What causes this problem, wrist pin wear or something? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
turboguzzi Posted October 10, 2006 Author Share Posted October 10, 2006 If there's a lesson in this case then it must be to put extra attention to oil level. once or twice in these two years I let oil level slip under the dipstick and my guess is that it was enough to caus some damage that took time to develop into a fully blown bigend. and while I am at it, if any european USMB memeber can think of a good source for an engine, I'll be glad to hear. Although its not immaculate, I really like this car. BTW, any idea if a four cam motor fits inside a 92' legacy engine bay? Just in case I come across one... cheers TG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cookie Posted October 10, 2006 Share Posted October 10, 2006 usually it means one rod bearing was starved for oil. It can be a faulty oil pump , pickup, seal, or a crank passage plugged. It could also be severe over revving but that is pretty hard to do to one of these cars. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
turboguzzi Posted October 10, 2006 Author Share Posted October 10, 2006 agree, but if its because of any of the reasons you mentioned then there isnt much you can do to prevent it. till I see if i find a spare motor, would be nice to pull the sump down and have a look. looks like it cant be done with the enigne in place, right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OB99W Posted October 10, 2006 Share Posted October 10, 2006 [...]What causes this problem, wrist pin wear or something? If it's truly a "big end" problem, then it isn't at the wrist pin, since that's the "small end" (of the connecting rod, that is). In the US we usually call the stuff connected to the crankshaft the "bottom end". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
porcupine73 Posted October 11, 2006 Share Posted October 11, 2006 mm...interesting. I don't know much about engine internals but now I at least know which is the big/bottom end.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WoodsWagon Posted October 11, 2006 Share Posted October 11, 2006 WHy not rip into it yourself? Replacing bearings on these engines isn't that bad. I'll have to look if you can do the connecting rods without splitting the block. You can drop the sump with the block in the car. Use a 1/4" drive ratchet and extension, there are holes drilled in the crossmember so that you can reach up and get the sump bolts by the flywheel end of the engine. You might be able to replace just that one bearing, mabe it spun and blocked it's oil inlet. If your lucky, the crank shaft journal isn't destroyed, so you could throw another bearing in and call it good for another 10k miles. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nipper Posted October 11, 2006 Share Posted October 11, 2006 Low mileage cars are NOT the dreams they portend to be. Especially if somone changed the oil by mileage and not by calender. i would trust a car with close to normal mileag way before i would trust one with low mileage. i am not surprised you lost a conn rod bearing. nipper Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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