What would happen if main bearing clearance is too loose?

Too little clearance and you’ll have trouble keeping your oil temperatures in check, and a spun bearing is much more likely. On the other hand, if the tolerance is too loose you hemorrhage oil out from around all the bearings.

How much clearance should rod bearings have?

The factory specs include 2.450-inch main bearing journals and 2.100-inch rod journals, which means the target bearing clearance should be about 0.0024-inch (0.0025 is the common spec) on main bearings and 0.0021-inch on the rod bearings.

How much bearing clearance is too much?

For normal passenger car application, . 0031” of bearing clearance would generally be too much.

When bearing oil clearances are too large?

However, too large a flow of oil leakage may cause a drop of oil pressure and even oil starvation, which terminates hydrodynamic lubrication. Oil leakage from a bearing with excessive clearance may be reduced by changing to a higher viscosity oil. The influence of clearance on oil flow is seen in Figure 6.

How much play should a crankshaft have?

Generally speaking, keeping the thrust clearance at 0.004 to 0.005-inch is appropriate but it is best to check the recommended clearance. For example, late model engines prefer a slightly tighter clearance to minimize travel of the crank sensor reluctor wheel.

How do I know if my rod bearings are oversized?

An undersized bearing has extra material thickness on the inside of the bearing facing the crankshaft journal. Undersized bearings are used when a crankshaft has been machined or ground undersize. Oversize bearings have more material on the outside facing the bearing housing bore.

How accurate is Plastigage?

Well, Plastigauge will get you in the ballpark but isn’t as precise as using “proper” measuring tools. On paper, a . 0002 to . 0004-inch difference doesn’t sound like much, but that is a 9- to 18-percent difference in accuracy.

What is excessive crankshaft end play?

The total travel is the crankshaft thrust clearance. If there’s excess endplay on a fresh motor, it may be because the block and crank weren’t properly dressed or ground in the thrust area, the crank is bent, or the main-bearing thrust cap and journal are cocked (usually because the line hone is off).

What is undersize and oversize?

An oversized bearing has the same inside diameter but a bit more material on the outside diameter. An undersized bearing measures the same outside but is thicker on the inside.