Humpty Dumpty is no more

That's what my son called my car since I would put her back together again and again.

Last week I was driving about 85 mph down I-10 and started to hear some noises from the engine and felt odd vibrations enough to feel it in the steering wheel and shifter so I pulled over. Check the oil level while it was low on the mark, it was showing sufficient. The engine was not overheated, at least it did not show up on the gauge although i had been dealing with a recent small leak that had me add coolant every 3 days. Had it towed back home to deal with it.

Since it was almost time for a timing belt service I went ahead to opt to replace the oil pump chain which required me to drop the pan and give me a reason to inspect further. Drained the oil and it looked fine. Took off the oil pan and found lots of metal fragments. Found the #4 rod bearing hand spun and was almost completely worn away. The crank journal looks overheated and has wear.

The bearings have about 200K miles using Rotella T6. They were replaced in 2011 when I had the engine partially disassembled due to a valve that ended up cavitating on the lip causing a loss of compression. At the time I didnt know why the engine was running so badly and with the advice here pointing to bad rings,etc. I ended up pulling the pistons and doing a bottom end rebuild.

The engine is at 418K miles now. I am not sure why the bearing spun as usually no oil or overheating can cause it. I found a 2001 ALH engnie with 257K miles and parts car for $600, but there is a part of me that is ready to move on.

Any ideas why you think the bearing gave up the ghost?

For some reason that journal starved for oil. How do the other rods and the mains look?

If it's ONE bearing in an engine (and the rest are ok) the usual causes are either improper assembly (not plastigauged, usually too tight clearance) or there's a blockage of some sort in the oil passages leading there that results in oil starvation, especially on the bottom end (sometimes cam issues can be due to low idle oil pressure which results in a journal not getting any oil at idle, but that wouldn't apply here.)

At this point in time and age the car owes you nothing.

oilhammer said:

For some reason that journal starved for oil. How do the other rods and the mains look?

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I have not removed them yet. Need to remove the cam so I can move things around. I pushed on the other rods and while there is a slight side to side freeplay within the journal gap they seem normal unlike #4.

The top end looks great, cam and followers look great (they were replaced at 225K too). The pump flows oil to the lifters when I rotated the engine.

Genesis said:

If it's ONE bearing in an engine (and the rest are ok) the usual causes are either improper assembly (not plastigauged, usually too tight clearance) or there's a blockage of some sort in the oil passages leading there that results in oil starvation, especially on the bottom end (sometimes cam issues can be due to low idle oil pressure which results in a journal not getting any oil at idle, but that wouldn't apply here.)

At this point in time and age the car owes you nothing.

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I will check further. I replaced the rods back in the same order. There was no restriction after assembly. It did last 225k, but it's a shame of its demise.

I can only guess bearing(s) was bad out of the box. Machining or material.
If the cam and crank are good, might be worth the repair. Guessing it may be tough to evaluate crank.

There are plenty of places that can look at the crank, make sure there are no fatal flaws (e.g. cracks) that could lead it to fail entirely and, if necessary, build it back up and then grind and polish it to spec. As long as the saddles are ok (check those mains!) if you want to keep the car that's how I'd proceed.

If a saddle is damaged then IMHO forget it. While that CAN be fixed you're better off finding a donor engine in that case if you wish to keep the car.

Well $600 and some elbow grease will put Humpty Dumpty back on the road again! Since you are not in the "rust belt" I'd give this some serious consideration. Consider what a new car payment would be?

ffemtp said:

Well $600 and some elbow grease will put Humpty Dumpty back on the road again! Since you are not in the "rust belt" I'd give this some serious consideration. Consider what a new car payment would be?

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I would pay cash for a car for now so I have that covered.

Well, there may little rust here in Texas, but i have hit a deer and put her through a barb wire fence all within the last 9 months, but she is solid.

I don't have a garage, just a driveway where I live currently so it's a problem of logistics to get a donor car involved. Still taking it all in. I drove this Jetta out of obsession to get to 500k.

How bad is that journal?
If it's marred you likely won't get another 82k miles by just replacing the bearing.
I would go with a used shortblock from DAP. The longblock I got from Frans is still going strong.

It's got some noticeable wear. I know enough about journals that I would never attempt to just slap in new bearings.

Anyway, i purchased a used motor with 199K miles this weekend. going to resurrect Humpty.

Good luck to you. I as well hope to get to 500,000 miles

mine has 320k i call her methusala 5 oil pans 2 cam one deer one tandem pump one loose motor mount 2 manual transmissions keep putting her back together. my other head gasket went at 417k

I wish you good times too with your Humpty! Your activities are admirable even with the mishaps. There’s no point in driving without humpty bumping around and shredding the twisties.

I put a Frans rebuilt turbo in mine a year ago and it’s running good but I suspect an oil leak from a loose gasket. A shop I took it to said it was definately a head gasket. That can’t be possible! I’ve got 162k.

All the mishaps to get to 500k could’ve happened with any car. But then you’d never make it to 500k, life is a struggle, drive on in the v double.

I have to say, I love the name!
Have fun with the transplant!



I'm in the middle of a gas to diesel swap myself.
I get the joy of transplanting my:
Engine, manual trans and shift lever, radio, interior, lower dash, and the cluster;
as well as relocating the EGT sensor to its optimal position and either replacing, or repurposing the fuel tank.