tballer4596

Hey all. So I'm replacing my oil pan gasket and RMS for the second time (because the first time I neglected to put RTV in the appropriate areas and it leaked like crazy. I didn't know anything about this stuff back then!)

Anyway, I remembered the first time I did the job the rear main bearing (the lower half anyway) had no visible scoring which I was pleased about. Now however, probably 12k miles after the first RMS replacement, it looks like this:



There must have been some foreign matter that got in when I replaced it. Because it looked great the first time, and I didnt know what I was doing, I'm sure this is a result of whatever I did and I'm not worried about the rest of the bearings. She has great oil pressure and despite a slight low end knock, I really do not want to go through the effort of changing all the bearings. I would much rather do a full rebuild later on. So my question is, would anyone here feel comfortable putting this bearing back in and running it? I will add that the crank looks absolutely fine, the bearing has no copper showing, and based on feel the scores are probably about .001", maybe less. OR is it acceptable to replace just this main bearing (upper and lower)? Thanks in advance.

dave1123

Peel the shell out of the cap and see what size it is from the markings on the back. You could just replace that one bearing if you felt the need. I would check another one and see if that one is also scored. If not, just replace the rear one. If it is, put the old rear back in and drive it. Just my opinion, however.

I had a low grade knock in my WJ with 250K miles on it and when I replaced the engine, I pulled #4 rod bearing out and this is what I found. It was only a whisper of a knock, mind you.