Engine bearing replacement write up with photos. ALH

Kgbriptyde

Member
Joined
Jan 7, 2013
Location
Redwood City, Ca
TDI
2002 Jetta Wagon
Engine bearings and easily made special tools for removing the upper main bearings.

Parts.
Main bearings and bolts.
Rod bearings and bolts.
Thrust washers.
Oil pump pick up and o ring. Or clean the existing one. Don't re use the o ring.
Grey RTV sealant.
5 quarts of oil. Might want to use some added zinc.
This is a good time to change the oil pump if needed.

Lift the vehicle. Drain the oil. Remove the dip stick. Remove the one bolt on the A/C compressor and pry it over an inch. Remove the oil pan. Remove the oil pump and baffle.

Rod bearings.
Set to TDC to access the #2 and #3 bearings. Turn the cam bolt with an 18mm wrench. Work on one bearing at a time. Remove the two 10mm bolts and cap. Pay attention to how it was installed, the groove sides go together for re installation. Use your thumbs to push up the rod and piston. Remove the upper bearing. Oil the new upper bearing, push it into the rod with your thumbs, pull the rod down on the crank, install the new bearing in the cap and install. Make sure the groove sides are together. Turn the crank to access the #1 and #4 bearings. Finish up. The bearings in the Bentley manual show an oil hole in the top bearings but that is incorrect, there is no oil hole. All the rod bearings are the same unlike the main bearings. The upper main bearings have the oil channel. The lower ones don't except for the #3 bearing which has the oil channel on the top and bottom with thrust washers on both sides. The thrust washers just slide in and out easily.

Main bearings.
Loosen all 10 of the bolts. Get a dremal with a carbide bit to router out a little bit of the housing to be able to get a 17mm socket over the #1 bolts. The metal is soft. This only takes a few seconds. Shove some paper rags up in the engine to keep out the debris. You only have to put the rags in the #1 bearing area. Clean good when finished. All the other bolts are easy to access.
Do only one bearing at a time. Remove the two bolts and cap. Use a plastic pointed chisel and hammer to get the upper bearing started. You can push them out about a 1/2” this way.
Cut the top of a thick tupperware container (one I used 1.8mm thick) the width of the bearings. Make 2”,3”,4” and 5” long pieces. Hold them with vise grips while pushing out the bearings. Also use them and a pick for cleaning out any debris.
Make a screw driver with the tip heated and bent over to form a hook. I used this on one the bearings that I could only get out half way. I hooked the oil hole and pulled it out.
Other ways to remove the upper bearings is using a pry bar on the crank to push it to one or another side in order to help get a bearing in or out. I used a motorcycle tire iron as a pry bar
Turning the crank can also help to free a stuck upper bearing.
Use a small wood handle wire brush. I used the wood end and hit it with a hammer to install the new upper bearings.
The cap and lower bearing install just like the rods.
Put the oil pan bolts in a vise and clean them with a wire brush before installation.
Keep everything clean and oiled when installing.
Careful not to damage the crank or new bearings.




Reason for changing the bearings.
I had low oil pressure. I changed the oil pump, then the oil filter housing (it has a pressure switch in it), next are the bearings. The rod bearings didn't look to bad but the main bearings were crushed, metal chunks. The #1 wasn't too bad but got progressively worse. The reason I think they went bad was the owner before me broke the oil pan and probably drove without oil for a while. Plus the car has 200K miles. It took me all day to do this job. Next time I could probably knock it out in a half day.

If the head blew its a good idea to change the oil cooler and oil cooling sprayers in the block. I didn't and am just going to keep an eye on the oil pressure and temp with an aftermarket gauge.

Before start up disconnect the solenoid wire on the injection pump. Turn the car over for a bit to build oil pressure. Then connect the wire and start the car. Let it idle at 2K for 20 minutes to set the cam followers. Use strait 30w oil with a zinc additive. Break in for 500 miles then change the oil and use the proper oil.

Low oil pressure. Change the oil pump and bearings. Then the oil filter bracket (has a pressure switch. This is what the dealer says. What I would do next time if I had low oil pressure I'd check the number 5 main bearing first. May not need an oil pump, filter bracket and wont blow the head, may just need bearings.

Good oil pressure read. http://www.aa1car.com/library/us1097.htm













http://i952.photobucket.com/albums/ae6/Kgbriptyde/Tools_zpsb88ed348.jpg
 

Kgbriptyde

Member
Joined
Jan 7, 2013
Location
Redwood City, Ca
TDI
2002 Jetta Wagon
If the head blew its a good idea to change the oil cooler and oil cooling sprayers in the block. I didn't and am just going to keep an eye on the oil pressure and temp with an aftermarket gauge.

Before start up disconnect the solenoid wire on the injection pump. Turn the car over for a bit to build oil pressure. Then connect the wire and start the car. Let it idle at 2K for 20 minutes to set the cam followers. Use strait 30w oil with a zinc additive. Break in for 500 miles then change the oil and use the proper oil.

Low oil pressure. Change the oil pump and bearings. Then the oil filter bracket (has a pressure switch. This is what the dealer says. What I would do next time if I had low oil pressure I'd check the number 5 main bearing first. May not need an oil pump, filter bracket and wont blow the head, may just need bearings.

The plastic was 1.8mm thick

 

talkboxier

Active member
Joined
Apr 28, 2014
Location
Hawaii
TDI
2002 Jetta TDI
when you say grooves for the rod cap. do you mean the tangs on the bearings themselves or are there grooves on the rod and cap?
 

speedy223

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 8, 2015
Location
east texas
TDI
alh tdi new beetle 98, alh jetta 01, bew golf 04 all 5spds
how do i view these pictures. do i have to sign up for photobucket or is that pointlesss. i want to see them but i dont want to sign up for some other thing unless it is def the way to see these...
 

KrashDH

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Dec 22, 2013
Location
Washington
TDI
2002 Golf
how do i view these pictures. do i have to sign up for photobucket or is that pointlesss. i want to see them but i dont want to sign up for some other thing unless it is def the way to see these...
It's useless at this point. A few months back Photobucket came out and took everyone who had been using their free platform for 3rd party hosting images' hostage. Ie they want $400/year for a subscription. They broke all of the links to everyone's photos on every blog, forum, public profiles, etc, until they pay.

One could in theory go back to photobucket and download all of the photos to their computer system, switch hosts, and re post every single image where it needs to be, but for us that have many write-ups over many different forums this is a very daunting task. Unfortunately thousands of write-ups over the last 10 or 15 years are toast now, and without photos to relate to the write-ups, are almost useless.

It's an incredibly frustrating deal, and it's all over the news if you Google it.
 

BobnOH

not-a-mechanic
Joined
May 29, 2004
Location
central Ohio
TDI
New Beetle 2003 manual
Here is an alternate instruction I used.
We used the a strip of aluminum as a drive to remove the lower bearings.
Only other thing not in the doc is we needed to dremel a bit off metal off the block near the #4 forward cap bolt.
This was way easier than the pain, parts and suffering I went thru to determine this was my problem (low oil pressure).
 
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