Hi,

I bought a 88 toyota a year ago. It had overheating problems, so i took it to a shop and they had the heads shaved and put her all back together for me. That fixed the overheating problem. The mechanic that fixed my truck told me that i needed new bearings. After procrastinating for 10 months, i dove in to the project with a friend that knows more than I do. Well, after we dropped the transmission and pulled out the oil pan. I bought standard sized main bearings and got the back 3 in #'s 3,4, and 5. We just unscrewed the bolts and took of the bottom part of the bearing. Slid the top bearing out, put some oil on the new top bearings and slid them in. But on #1 and #2 the space to slide the top bearing in, the space is too tight.

Does anyone have any bright ideas?

thanks for looking.

 

plastigauge the old bearings first to make sure they need replaced? and if they do, mic the crank journals so you know what size bearings you really need?

 

my friend said we should use the plastigauge, but im not sure how exactly to use the plastiguage on the bearing. I got the standard size. and #'s 3, 4, and 5 are in. just gotta get 1 and #2

 

plastigage is easy- you cut a strip long enough to cover the width across the bearing face (the short direction) and lay it on the bearing then torque the bearing cap down... loosen the bearing cap and use the nice little 'gauge' they give you to measure how much the plastigauge 'squished' (the more it squished, the wider it is) and thus less clearance. their gauge gives you the squish-to-clearance conversion.

 

Where would one get one of these handy devices?

 

hehe... it's not really a device. it's a roll of what looks like thin plastic string rope and I believe napa sells it.

what I'm getting at is that just because the engine overheated doesn't mean the bearings needed replaced.
after all, you ran it for 10 months (correct?) without issues?

 

The overheating has nothing to do with it. My mechanic fixed the over heating problem. He had the head all redone and im sure he put in new gaskets and all that good stuff.

But My mechanic said that my bearings were toast. When i drove it, my oil light flashed. Which is a sign that my bearings are bad.
I'm not sure what else it could be.

 

Could be rod bearings, main journal bearings, or maybe the oil pressure switch or even the oil pump... and maybe even the cam journals....

Without checking things and figuring out what might be wrong, you're just throwing money away. You don't know what size bearings to get (or even if they are actually worn) or even which bearing(s) are causing the problem.