A simple rear main seal job turned into this?

[87geeinn]

Oh what fun. This all started with my turbo taking a dump on me a few weeks ago. New turbo here, new TA stainless headers here just waiting to be slapped on (stockers cracked bad and didn't feel like fixing them, so just went with new ones). I figured I'd go ahead and replace my rear main seal while I was in the swing of things. I pulled the pan and there appears to be some antifreeze mixed in with the remainder of the oil that didn't drain out, along with some metal shavings (not a whole lot, but some fairly nice sized shavings). Sonafab**tch I say. Looks like I popped a head gasket too? WTF?! I went ahead and proceeded with popping the rear cap off and here's the best part: My rear bearing looks like poo to me. The crank looks okay, I think. Should I just replace the cap, button it back up and proceed with a compression test? Not sure where to go from here.

BTW, first time oil pan has ever been off. Stock long block except valve springs.

Also, I should add exactly what led up to all of this: About two weeks ago I noticed that the engine stumbled a few times at idle and that the oil pressure was 2-3 pounds lower than usual. I decided drive back home fearing the worst. The car drove okay. I gave it a little boost while watching the oil pressure gauge. Oil psi rose with RPMs as usual and car didn't act funny at all. Did another small run and as boost came up, I heard the tell-tale screeeeech of the turbo going out followed by a cloud of blue smoke out the tailpipes (at least it wasn't white smoke). I limped the car about 1/4 mile back to the house, pulled the turbo off and noticed that the compressor blades were grinding into the housing and when spinning the turbine wheel on the exhaust side, I could feel it binding up and contacting somewhere internally. I figured a major turbo surge problem was killing the turbo anyway because as of late, I noticed the exhaust housing was leaking all around the area where it mates to the compressor housing.

I just find it hard to believe--except for the evidence before my eyes--that I blew a headgasket AND a turbo all at the same time. I mean, I do have coolant in the oil pan and the radiator lost some fluid (down about 2 inches when looking down into the rad. As someone mentioned on the other board, my headgasket might have gone and the material took out the turbo shortly thereafter. Certainly a plausible scenario. Furthermore, I was just about to switch over to distilled and pump lube for my coolant, but it's still been dipping down into the 20's even here in N. Florida.

I'm thinking at this point, all the evidence leads to a blown headgasket. As such, I think it would be easier to just go ahead and tear the heads and intake off to see what lurks beneath rather than button everything all the way back up just to do a compression test. I really do not have the funds for even a stock rebuild at this moment. Keep in mind that I'm also doing this with the car in my back yard, no garage, and no workbench (kitchen counter serving double-duty). Thoughts? Ideas?

[Ts86ttype]

Your crank does look good... You know antifreeze in the oil can do alot of bearing damage, probably why the rear main bearing looks bad... I would still plastic guage the mains to see were your are at with clearences... As far as the head gaskets I would probably pull the heads also just for piece of mind... You might want to look at the oil pump gears also and really clean things out... And you are a harty soul when working out side, I think most of us have been there and it is a pain in the A... Good luck Tom G.

[Keller]

Originally Posted by Ts86ttype

You know antifreeze in the oil can do alot of bearing damage, probably why the rear main bearing looks bad.

Not chewed down into different levels, certainly. Maybe a teensy bit oil starved and caught early?

Was this cleaned off for the camera shot? Would not want to draw incorrect conclusions...

[87geeinn]

I replaced the lower #4 main bearing, pulled the #3. Here's some pics. I also did a pressure test on the coolant system and it held steady at 16psi and wasn't leaking anywhere...not down the cylinder walls, nothing.

What's with the orangish/tan looking stuff on the casting between the cam lobes?

Oil filler neck looks fine with no residue either. I'm wondering if I'm being paranoid now.

[87geeinn]

Was this cleaned off for the camera shot? Would not want to draw incorrect conclusions...

Nope, I took pics exactly as they looked when I pulled the parts off.

Well, after an in-depth discussion with Kevin at KDK (great guy to deal with), we both concluded that everything doesn't look too bad. Reasoning has it that the oil didn't look all milk-shaky, coolant looked fine/passed a pressure test, minimal material in the oil pan, pickup screen was actually very clean (surprisingly), oil filler neck checked out okay, etc. At this point, I think the bottom end is okay for the time being. I went ahead and just replaced the 3rd lower bearing, left well-enough alone and buttoned the bottom end up.

As it stands now, next I will cut the oil filter and check for any debris, slap on the new headers and turbo (I know the risk in doing so, but I say f**k it), change the coolant over to distilled water and pump lube, spin the motor over to verify I have oil pressure, and then start it up with fresh oil and filter. I'm going to fire it up and if everything seems okay at that point, I'll shut 'er down and do a compression test to see where I'm at.

It's still possible that I blew a head gasket, however, if I did, I caught it real early and didn't run the motor but for a easy 1/4 mile back to the house before I shut it down. If all goes well, hopefully I can just drain that oil, put another fresh filter on there and break in the new turbo.

Wish me luck! I acquired some headgaskets, intake gasket, etc. in case I have to tear back into it. Jeebus, I'm tired. This sucks doing all of this in the grass, on my back, with just hand tools and no workbench. Half of my time has been spent making sure everything stays clean. My living room has a large 9 x 12 painters drop sheet with tools and parts scattered everywhere.

[Keller]

Originally Posted by 87geeinn

What's with the orangish/tan looking stuff on the casting between the cam lobes?

Don't like oil in my eye, so don't spend a lot of time with that view. Perhaps some ID paint on the cam? Doesn't appear to be residue of any sort.

Hey...you could be doing this outside right now in one of the northern states. Or Canada. So be a little thankful, because it could actually be worse.

Might not be bad after all. And you clearly are a car nut.

FWIW, distilled water and RMI-25 works very well for coolant.

[Keller]

BTW...

Do not forget to prime the crap out of it before you really start it. Your pump may not have lost prime, but it would be well worth disconnecting the ECM and going through a lot of crank cycles to insure you have oil circulation on those fresh bearing faces before you actually start it.

[87geeinn]

FWIW, distilled water and RMI-25 works very well for coolant.

Yeah, I've been meaning to pick up some of that RMI-25 for a while now. Too bad that the only place that you can find it is online...at least that's the case here locally.

Don't like oil in my eye, so don't spend a lot of time with that view. Perhaps some ID paint on the cam? Doesn't appear to be residue of any sort.

Yeah, oil kept dripping from the oil pickup onto my face, and into my eye on a few occassions. And yes, that is paint on the cast surfaces of the cam. Remember, I'm on a learning curve here.

Do not forget to prime the crap out of it before you really start it. Your pump may not have lost prime, but it would be well worth disconnecting the ECM and going through a lot of crank cycles to insure you have oil circulation on those fresh bearing faces before you actually start it.

Yep, intend to do that. The ECM's been disconnected since I started this project. Spark plugs are out so that I can spin it over easily and quickly since the motor won't be fighting the compression. Also, won't risk burning up the starter.

[87geeinn]

I'm really concerned about protecting my new turbo, since using my old one is out of the question (it's trashed with both the compressor and turbine wheels scraping, and blowing oil into the intake. Hence, the smoke show when it failed).

Any thoughts on rigging up a small inline filter kinda like this? I see a lot of people fabricating their own filters and such, but I'm not too keen on the idea of potentially restricting the flow of oil to the turbo with a filter. Any thoughts on this? I know about the turbo saver setup, but I'd like something a little less complicated.

[Keller]

Might not be the dumbest idea. But, an awful lot of us have survived a lot of miles without it...