[One to Remember]

i have a 1983 dodge ram slant six. i had to put a new engine in after the old block got a crack in it. the issue with the new engine it seems is its dry perhaps. When i put everything back togethor and put oil in it it ran fine but after leaving it for 10 days or so without being run it seemed to make a scraping screeching sound i guess. a mechanic said it was the bearings and maybe my journals on my crank but i dont see how that could be the case if i havent even ran the engine on the road or started it more then 3 times. there shouldn't be any damage this quick. the guy who looked it it said it was because my oil pan was off of it for more then a weak but i think maybe there isn't enough oil in the cylinders.

[oldbogie]

Originally Posted by One to Remember

i have a 1983 dodge ram slant six. i had to put a new engine in after the old block got a crack in it. the issue with the new engine it seems is its dry perhaps. When i put everything back togethor and put oil in it it ran fine but after leaving it for 10 days or so without being run it seemed to make a scraping screeching sound i guess. a mechanic said it was the bearings and maybe my journals on my crank but i dont see how that could be the case if i havent even ran the engine on the road or started it more then 3 times. there shouldn't be any damage this quick. the guy who looked it it said it was because my oil pan was off of it for more then a weak but i think maybe there isn't enough oil in the cylinders.

One would say this wasn't run enough to start with, starting it up, then shutting it off for ten days isn't good. I don't know what has been damaged, but an engine needs time to run in, this lets the parts get to know each other and it provides time for the oil to work into the pores and crevasses of the metal parts where it is held for the next start up. When this isn't provided for by time and heat cycle, the oil runs out of the oil system and from the rubbing surfaces. So the next start up is essentially a dry start. Under normal or typical circumstances, most engine wear happens in that first few moment after start up. Watch how people around you like at a parking lot treat their engines. I saw a guy the other day, he had that thing moving before the engine got to idle. He just fired it and had it moving skipping over giving it a few moments to pump some oil thru it. You know that isn't going to be a long lived car.

So why was the pan off? There isn't oil in the cylinders at least hopefully no oil in the cylinders.

Bogie

[One to Remember]

i took the pan off to look at the oil and due to the fact i needed to uh do some modifying i guess to the oil pump arm. eitherway when i had the screeching before a ton of oil fixed it so now i dont get how my bearings are bad just from sitting there. maybe they need cleaning or lubing but bad i doubt. this is just what this backyard oracle told me i am a tad skeptical and hopeful hes wrong. how do i myself lower the options down? i have everything exposed, no oil pan, no valve cover i can see everything working.

[oldbogie]

Originally Posted by One to Remember

i took the pan off to look at the oil and due to the fact i needed to uh do some modifying i guess to the oil pump arm. eitherway when i had the screeching before a ton of oil fixed it so now i dont get how my bearings are bad just from sitting there. maybe they need cleaning or lubing but bad i doubt. this is just what this backyard oracle told me i am a tad skeptical and hopeful hes wrong. how do i myself lower the options down? i have everything exposed, no oil pan, no valve cover i can see everything working.

If you have the pan off the bottom end is exposed, just pull the bearing caps off a mains and rods and look at them. Then if they are OK, put them back together at the proper bolt torque of course. I'm presuming that bearing clearances were checked on assembly and the crank's journals were properly measured and polished or turned undersize before that. If turned, I assuming it has the correct oversized, (what's called undersize) shell bearing for the journal. Or attention was paid to the bearing sizes at tear down such that each has received the proper size bearing on reassembly. The manufacturers recover and rework crankshafts that are damaged in production by turning the damaged journal to a standard undersize, so it is possible to encounter one or more undersize bearings in an engine. While this is a rare occurrence at Ford and GM, it was done a lot at Chrysler, especially in production in the 50 year period from the end of WW II and the merger with Mercedes Benz. So when you peel a Chrysler product apart you need to pay careful attention to each and every bearing, lifter and cylinder bore as these guys didn't throw anything out of spec away they fixed it instead. Many of their engines have cryptic stamped characters on the side of the block that give some notice to the mechanic/rebuilder that there are non standard dimensions and parts inside.

Bogie