I just bought an 89 Sr5 its in really good shape and i got it for a good price. It had a REALLY bad exhaust leak (i.e. it was pretty much open headers), so i couldn't really hear the engine itself it wouldn't idle well so i knew it needed a carb rebuild...no biggy. The car came with a brand new OEM exhaust waiting to be put on. So i put the exhaust on it rebuilt the carb and started her up....she ran awesome except for this terrible KLAK KLAK KLAK KLAK KLAK noise that came from it. So she has a rod knockin, I'm gonna do a cylinder drop test to see if I can figure out which cylinder it is. But my question is do you think I could get away with a new set of bearings or is a crank turn or replacement necessary? I realize only way to be positive is to pull the engine and check the crank but I'm basically wondering how tough the bottom ends on these engines are. I tried doin a search but couldn't fnd a single mention of one of these engines needing a bottom end rebuild, so I'm guessing the previous owner either ran her really low on oil or just plan ol' over revved...... Done some checking on the web and a rebuild kit seems to be more than what it would cost to pull another one out of the junk yard. I don't feel like swapping the tank and junk for a EFI swap so another 4AF is definite. So what's your opnion? Try and rebuild or swap? Whats chances of an engine out of the junkyard having same problem....are they really tough engines and I just had bad luck or are they troublesome? Appreciate any input you can give.
just pull it, and have the head serviced, get the crank turned, and put new bearings in... might as well put in a new clutch too... If there is lots of miles on it, might as well do new rings too... probably good to go for $500.00 total if you do it yourself... oops (almost forgot), also throw in the new timing belt (with bearing) and waterpump...
if you have somone else do it,,, just get a whole new /rebuilt engine and trans... $1,000.
that silvertop engine and trans deal looks great for $1,000 ! (160 HP !) I would seriousl consider doing that with mine. (1989 Toyota Corolla SR5).
Unless you can find one at a wrecking yard with a guarantee of low mileage on the engine in great running condition.. I would not go for it... you could end up with more problems..
IMHO
Last edited by retiredat44; 07-16-2007 at 12:36 AM.
Wheres this silvertop deal at? 1g seems to be a lot for only 160 horses...I havnt seen any mentions of frankenstein swaps like the hondas have. Are none of the same seres parts interchangeable? Only mention I;v seen is the 4age head on 4af block but everybody gripes cuz compression is too low that seems like a good boost option to me.
st isn't 160 hp, and that a decent motor, it's more the responce time people like from the ITB, vvt, and 5 valves a cylinder.
bt is more around 160 but the power rating was lied about and I forget the actual power output. The 4agze is the most power stock from all of them, the later ones anyways.
I don't think you can really call it ROD knock since that refers to the rods knocking which it doesn't have since it's an ohc design. Maybe the valves are messed up, or it's the connecting rod :|...
You'll have to open her up to see how bad it is, might get away with just new bearings, probably not though.
The only way to kill one of these (within reason) is to run it out of oil, so I'd say the crank won't be too pretty.
Don't bother with a silvertop if they're a grand, you could probably buy and rebuild a 16v 4age for that sort of money. And coming from someone with 2 ST 20v's, i'd much rather have a rebuilt smallport than an ex japan 20v.
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yeah i thought it was obvious that when i say a rod knock on an ohc engine i mean connecting rod....i'm planning on dropping the pan and checking out the crank. I'm hoping I can get away with just a bearing swap...I only need this engine to last another couple months then I'll be able to devote some time and money into a nice build/swap.
it might be to damned hard to find the bad rod, by just removing the pan and laying under the car staring up at the rod caps. You will need excellent view, room, light, etc.. and maybe even some plasti-gauge to find which one is out of clearance, also the journal could be bad and need cut and you may not even see it from laying under the car..
or it could be obvious when you remove al the rod caps and see a really bad bearing... besides... you will end up buying a new set anyways... and will need to remove the crank and drop the trans to remove the tranny and fly wheel...
any way you cut it.... it's an overhaul...
oh yeah, in my list I forgot to add a new oil pump...
geeesh, maybe you can just get a new/rebuilt short block and get the head redone...
it would be a real bitch to replace one bearing and find out the journal is bad too after you put it back together... hope you have experince do this type of work.. get a micromenter, plastiguage... get the specs from the dealer or the mechanics book...
sorry,, guess I get carried away..
Last edited by retiredat44; 07-17-2007 at 01:02 AM.
actually a bad rod bearing can be found easily, it will be worn out and look like such, also the crank can already have turned blue at the bearing which has gone bad.
I sympathize with you; I bought an old truck a while back that had what I thought was a rod knock. Turned out to be a corroded spot in a cylinder wall that the rings were hitting, causing the noise. I did a complete rebuild. You MIGHT be able to get by with pulling the pan and checking the bearings, and replacing a bad bearing. But I would say that the chances of success are not too great.
If there is a bad bearing, the crank will probably be scored, too, and if you just replace the bearing it may last 10 seconds or a few years, depending on how bad the scoring is. There is also a fairly good chance that you will pull the bearing caps and see nothing obvious, which is pretty frustrating. But it's probably worth a try if you just want it to run a while longer.
In this situation I've always been partial to roughly $500 used jap engines. Of the 5 or so I've done, one had a bit of oil consumption (really not that much) and the rest have been good as new. A bit of a gamble, though...
Also, I did an ST swap on my 16v FX16 GTS and I'm glad I did. Easy swap for any decent mechanic.
So where are these $500 jap engines? And is that 500 shipped? As long as it is a direct plug and play bolt in I might be willing to do that, but for that cost I could completely rebuild this engine and have a very reliable engine, plus be able to have some headwork done to increase performance a little.
I saw someone grab a 1.6 corolla engine from the wrecking yard for $175.00 close by here a couple years back. I was there looking for some odds and ends for my car. They had the engine on table with wheels carting it off...
I suppose they were told it was running good.. I have no clue what if any warranty they were given...
you really should look for a shop that does short block exchanges... if you want to go that route..
I buy them locally. I've got 2VZFE's, 3SFE's, 3SGE's, and I can't remember what others for about 500. You can usually get engines shipped for 200-300. I usually install them with the jap lack of emission controls, but I dont' have to do emissions tests. Usually if you just use the longblock of the new motor you're fine, though.
Toysport recommends leaving any "FE" toyota head alone to maintain the positive torque characteristics of these motors (I'm assuming your SR5 has a 4afe). I remember reading that besides forced induction they haven't found much to increase power on these... I'd post a link but their site is under reconstruction right now...
I'd personally get estimates from reputable machine shops and then research used engine prices. Jap engines are nice because they're low miles and cheap but are often a lil grungy inside.
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