Hey Guys,

I know this has nothing to do with my third gen..cause it's sleeping right now..but my winter beater has developed a nasty knock and i thought it might be a rod so i swung by my mechanic and he says definately a bottom end sound.. most likely a rod...so i'm thinking that sucks...(it's a 92 dodge shadow with a 2.2 ...no turbo)...so i was thinking that since some of you guys know everything about every car ever made maybe you can help me....my question is...how hard is it to replace a rod with the engine still in the bay, (like can u just drop the oil pan and go at it) and how long will this take if i have the right equiptment and a life in my garage...and second, is the rod definatly shot or could it be something else?...or should i just get another engine and drop it in?...

thanks for any info

 

Double check your flexplate or flywheel,...it may be cracked and can confuse alot of people...But it is a dodge 4 banger so it most likely is a rod..but cheaper to check the flexplate first right.....HTH

Keiran

 

more likely id be willing to bet it spun a bearing if it jsut started knocking. The lower bearing porbably spun. My brothers car did this and it also just started knocking.

 

as for the motor, its usually impossible to get at the bottom end w/o removing the motor. Not sure aboutt eh shadows but there is usually a cross memeber that runs perpendicular under the pan to give support to the front end.

 

If you can manage to get the pan off and remove the piston and rod assembly there may be damage to the crankshaft journal which would be my main concern. Another cause of lower end noise is wrist pin noise which my Honda has had for the last 100,000 miles and its not getting any louder.

 

I have seen both on those stupid things happening and we are a gm dealer! check the flex plate first like they said then the bearings(rod)