My engine is noisy around 3k rpm - w/ pics of internals

General engine questions/issues that aren't specific to the other categories
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By ChicagoMike
- Tue Aug 28, 2007 9:02 pm #21390 Teal, this is totally unacceptable, and complete crap.

You paid good money to a builder to have your engine assembled, you should not be having bearing issues after 1000 miles. :thumbdown:

If its not something you want to get into, I know a guy here locally that can assemble the bottom end correctly for you. The down side is you'd have to ship me the bottom end, and pay the guy to do the work.

LMK if I can help in any way. :thumb:
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By Sire
- Tue Aug 28, 2007 9:04 pm #21391 @ addictive... Man, I just can't keep up with your avatars!!! :shock:
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By ChicagoMike
- Tue Aug 28, 2007 9:07 pm #21393
Sire wrote:@ addictive... Man, I just can't keep up with your avatars!!! :shock:


I'm always changing shit, I get bored quick. :lol:
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By teal_dx
- Tue Aug 28, 2007 9:53 pm #21396 I need to do more research on what could have caused them to go bad before I go back to the builder. So far the only thing I can find is lack of lubrication or over revving.
The engine has always had proper amount of oil and I eased into higher RPM's as the engine got more and more miles on it.
The engine has never been higher than 7k and has only been that high a hand full of times. usually when I would get on it, I shifted around 6000 or 6500.
Even then it is my word against his... I'm sure he gets customers all the time coming back after they've gone way past red line/ overheated/ ran w/ low oil.
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By chnzgoofball
- Tue Aug 28, 2007 11:38 pm #21423
Sire wrote:
teal_dx wrote:Next time I may as well use plastigauge and do it myself rather than spend a lot of money to pay a professional. If I had built it myself the first time and had this happen I would understand. But I wrote a big check to the builder so it's a bigger kick in the nuts now.


Don't you have warranty on the work, I mean, it's only been 1000miles... :? You could at least try...?

And you should be able to change the bearings without removing the head, when you need the clearance, just turn it at the crankpulley like you said... :thumb:


x2 :x
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By 1993 Civic Si
- Wed Aug 29, 2007 2:49 am #21473 Man...I would at LEAST check with him. I'd prolly take it by a reputable shop first (or even THREE) and let them listen. If they all agree on rod bearings (or just one), I'd go back to your builder and let HIM listen. If he say's its nothing, THEN tell him what others have said.

I guess what I mean is build a professional consensus first, then approach your builder. Make sense?

Regardless, I would at LEAST speak with him.
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By teal_dx
- Wed Aug 29, 2007 1:19 pm #21510 right now the car has been sitting in the garage. I decided to stop driving it to avoid any more wear & tear. I'm hoping that the crank isn't scarred... then it will be a easy fix. If the crank is scarred, then that means I'll have to remove the tranny, along with pretty much the rest of the entire motor and have the crank micro polished.
And if one of those bearings was to spin while driving... then I'd be on a whole nother level of screwed. :(
I have looked for the papers for the build, they must be at my parent's place. I'm gonna go there tomorrow and get them
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By teal_dx
- Wed Aug 29, 2007 1:41 pm #21512 one more thing... could advanced ignition timing have been a possible cause for this? I checked the timing with a timing gun around 1000 mi.
Before that I just had the dizzy centered between clockwise and counter clockwise.
The manual says d16z6 ignition timing should be 16° BTDC. After I adjusted it according to the timing gun based on the red mark on the crank pulley, The dizzy was probably 3/4 turned all the way counter clockwise (advanced). I thought I heard some pre-detonation, So I put some 93 octane in it. I still heard it once in a while, mostly when going up hills. Could pre-detonation wear out the rod bearings?
If you think about combustion happening before the piston is at the top of the cyl, it is working against the engine. Well maybe the weakest component in the line of Forged Pistons, wrist pins, forged rods, rod bearings, crank, was the rod bearings. So they took the abuse?
I was thinking last night about this and it is a coincidence that this began not too long after I adjusted the timing. Maybe I did it wrong or the gun was off. what do you all think?
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By 1993 Civic Si
- Wed Aug 29, 2007 4:21 pm #21518 Dunno...so how far advanced was it before you re-set it to spec (in degrees)?
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By teal_dx
- Wed Aug 29, 2007 5:45 pm #21526 before I set it it was around 0 according to the gun. which I was surprised it ran as good as it did for being so retarded (lol)

Looking back, I'm questioning the gun now. Maybe the timing was ok all along and afterward it was too advanced past 16° BTDC, causing pre-detonation.

The gun had one of the timing dials on the back of the gun... Maybe it got turned sometime in the progress, which was giving a reading that was more retarded than the ignition really was.

I remember checking the gun before hand. But I didn't look at the dial when I was through. so if this is the case, I have no idea how far advanced it was after I set the timing. But it never made the sound before I set the timing with the gun, so that's one reason I have been wondering about it.
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By Sire
- Thu Aug 30, 2007 7:59 pm #21667 But still, Teal... I'd take it back... Another thing that could have happened is that the shop didn't polish the crank or put the wrong size bearings in your car... You know, human error... :? If you have a slightly worn crank and you don't polish it when you put in new bearings, the new ones will get smoked within the 1000miles you said.
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By teal_dx
- Fri Aug 31, 2007 4:09 pm #21797 I just got off the phone with the builder and explained the situation to him. I'm going to drop the oil pan and take out the bearings and have a look. Then he said to bring in the bearings to him and we'll figure out what happened.
I definitely am done driving the car in the meantime to avoid any possible damage to the crank. I'll have some time next week so I'll do this and post pics. I'll compare your thoughts to his and see what could have happened. He was very friendly on the phone and wants to figure out what could have gone wrong.
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By chnzgoofball
- Fri Aug 31, 2007 5:13 pm #21810
teal_dx wrote:I just got off the phone with the builder and explained the situation to him. I'm going to drop the oil pan and take out the bearings and have a look. Then he said to bring in the bearings to him and we'll figure out what happened.
I definitely am done driving the car in the meantime to avoid any possible damage to the crank. I'll have some time next week so I'll do this and post pics. I'll compare your thoughts to his and see what could have happened. He was very friendly on the phone and wants to figure out what could have gone wrong.


he's just nice cuz he doesnt want u to sue him if he did fuck up lol :lol:
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By ohDirka
- Sun Sep 02, 2007 6:14 am #21977 if he a reputable builder(in my experince with builders) they will almost always stand behind their work. i had a guy drive from philidalphia to come look at a motor on the fourth of july. he fixed it and was on his way.

-the mustang was pissed that you werent driving it so it put a curse on the civic-
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By teal_dx
- Wed Sep 05, 2007 12:44 am #22201 mustang got its wish then cause I've been driving it everywhere :lol: then I look at my gas gauge :( lol

I started tearing the D16z6 apart tonight to get a look at the rod bearings...

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First lets have a close look at the main bearings and see what you all think...

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some signs of wear, but I don't know from experience if that amount is normal or not.

I looked at the crank surfaces for any signs of wear...

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main 1

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main2

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main3

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main4

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main5

And now on to the rods...
First I took pics of each rod end to look for signs of discoloring due to excessive heat...

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rod #1

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rod #2

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rod #3

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rod #4

Look at Rod #2 at the crank... it is a different color than the other pics, and you can see it again in the background of the rod #3 pic. So I know it's not the camera lens... I'm guessing right now that #2 bearing is probably bad and generating a lot of heat, but the rod end looks normal even though the crank looks like it saw some temperatures...

And that's as far as I got... I didn't have a 12 point socket that fit the rod bolts... anyone know what size they are? They are Eagle rods. I had a 10mm but that was too small.

I'll add more when I get the rod ends off....
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