I have a 283 sbc that had anti freeze in one cylinder. Without resorting to taking the connecting rods to a machine shop to check to see if their bent, is there an easy and accurate way I can check them myself? Without taking the pistons off? How do I get the wrist pins out? Heat the pistons till they expand and them take the pin out?
Thanks for your help. You guys have been great

My opinion is no!!!! If i thought i had the slightest idea i had a bent rod i would have them checked out. I could never knowingly use them and feel safe. I don`t think it would cost that much to have them checked. It is a good time to have the big and little ends checked too!!!
Slider in Wa.

Is the engine still together?A pretty good way would be to turn the assembled shortblock over by hand and check the deck height on each piston.If one shows to be lower then the rest by more then a few thousandths,I would look into it.From one end of the block to the other you may find the deck height change,but it should change with each piston,not with one piston higher then the rest.For this test,I recommend checking the height at the center of the piston to minimize variations caused by piston rock.When you are done,bring each piston to TDC and rock it in it's bore from the lifter valley side to the outer side,and see if all the pistons rock about the same amount.If you have one that rocks more then the rest you could have a broken piston skirt.On an unassembled engine you need to had the ods measured,and this is best done at a machine shop.Good luck.

To remove the pin you just press them out, usually the pistons are scrap after so don't attempt to reuse them. As for checking for a bent rod there is not any shortcuts that I know of unless you have access to some common machine shop tools like a cylindrical square or at least a surface plate and a dial indicator. There are many ways to check them so how you do it is up to you and the tools you have.

What kind of precision tools do you have? Do you have at least a micrometer, piece of glass, and a dial indicator? You could use these tools to find a bent rod.

You could also use a feeler gauge down the bore once you have the rings removed and have the rod assy temporarily installed, it's not perfect but it will give you an idea.

[ November 08, 2002: Message edited by: 4 Jaw Chuck ]</p>

The real issue is whether you hydro locked the engine or not. If it was not started or if there was not enough liquid in the cylinder to cause a hydro lock, then the rods could not bend. Most starter motors will not bend a rod. Bent rods from hydrolocking are usually the result of running them into water (boats sinking) etc.

I agree with super streeter, if the engine is together a deck height check woukd give pretty conclusive results. I have seen many bent rods that were bent from hydraulicing with the starter motor and the common expression was "I cranked it over and heard an eeeeeh sound", I even keep ome around the shop to illustrate. The gear ratio of the starter/flywheel and how much liquid has entered the cylinder (there by putting the rod in a low enough spot) when it tries to crank is what does it

If you're familiar with Ford at all you know they have one of the worst head gasket problems of all time with their 3.8 V6 engine. The shop gets a regular chuckle everytime we see a Taurus or Windstar pull in with that familiar white cloud following behind, not to mention that smell. We rip the top ends of these puppies apart all the time and if we don't see any variences in piston height and she turns over smooth by hand she's good to go. If you're concerned since it's your own engine and have the time a teardown couldn't hurt anything, but at a high volume Ford dealership with regular head gasket failures all we ever did was exactly what I already stated.

Thanks guys for all the ideas. I checked the deck height before I disassembled the engine and they all seemed to be within a couple thousanths of each other. The reason I think the rods might be bent is that with the rods and pistons out the crank turns freely but with them installed I had a hard time turning the engine over by hand. I think I will go with Slider in that it only costs $125 to have the rods checked. I have to have one cylinder sleeved anyway.
Thanks again.

Change the piston rings while you are at it. You said you could turn the engine over by hand? I have to use a special crank hub tool with a power bar on it to turn my engines over, sounds like this one is to loose. Rebuild it now while you are at it.

tm454, when you're turning over an engine to check for a bent push rod you're doing it with the heads off. If you need a breaker bar to turn over a crank without any heads bolted on you've got trouble.

[ November 09, 2002: Message edited by: dmorris1200 ]</p>