the big end bearings have almost gone on the volvo. it's clattering rather badly. barley used it apart from a two min trip from a local garage for a quote. they said since the bearings were so bad the crank should be damamged so it's a new engine job. going to try and replace the bearings with new ones sunday but if there's any obvious signs to look for so i know not to bother then i'd appreciate it. don't want to drop in a new engine if i don't need to. it'd had plenty of oil for ages and had sat for 3 months not doing anything with fresh oil in it. i'm hopefull it's ok.

unless you have an outside micrometer to check for wear on the crank and an internal one to check for ovality on the big end eyes then i wouldn't bother replacing the shells,if they are as bad as the garage suspects then the crank will be damaged.it doesn't matter how good the oil is and how often it's changed,it cannot replace worn metal.

true, but they were talking about marking the crank so it'd be rough and need grinding smooth. would it really do that much damage from so little use?

oh yes,you can screw a crank in 30 seconds.

poo. not good. one place i went to said they knew of people who'd driven for months on worse than mine. what if i just threw the new bearings in? i only need it to last until i can drop a replacement engine in. a month or so at most.

you could be really,really lucky,check the condition of the crank journals when you've got it apart and take a good look at the big end eye,any signs of bad scoring or galling and you probably won't get away with it but for the price of a set of shells then perhaps it's worth the risk.good luck anyway.

i have the shells already so i was thinking about it. even if it only lasts about three months or so it's enough time for me to save for the replacement engine. or sort out an alternative. the engine's in good condition with only 87k on the clock so i'm not too concerned about normal wear, just damage from the bearing. i think only one's gone as the sound is coming from one side of the engine. we'll see this weekend if it's dry.

just an update if anyone's paying attention. took the old bearings off. three were worn down to the metal and one was completly gone. there was no shell at all. for the sake of it i put the replacement ones in and it ran fine but went through them in only a few minutes as i expected. it is a new engine job unfortunatly. can't even just replace the crank as that con rod will be dead too. some saving to do then.

That was most unfortunate but I guess you were ready for bad news.
I trust that it hasn't put you off Volvos altogether as it really could have happened to any car :-( Look on the bright side, now you can get a 2T or a T4, great excuse. :grin: