<VV> over heating

[BobHelt at aol.com]

In a message dated 3/12/05 10:37:44 AM US Mountain Standard Time, 
contactsmu at sbcglobal.net writes:

> No idiot light, no unusual noise, no smoke, 
> but the water temperature gauge that we installed to monitor the oil 
> from the lower block pegged at 270 about 25 miles into the trip.  
> Stupid (me) should have pulled over and allowed it to cool.  Instead, 
> because of no unusual noise and not even a faint glimmer of said idiot 
> light, said idiot continued on his not so merry way.  To make a long 
> painful story short: ate #3 rod bearing which proceeded to send shards 
> to destroy the rest of the bearings (rod and mains). 

Steve,
You didn't request comments, but I will offer mine anyhow. I'm not sure that 
it actually overheated. I suggest that you check that oil temp gauge. If it 
truly overheated, you should have gotten some pinging, and smoke, etc. That 
would be the first thing I'd do, is to determine whether it actually overheated. 
Are the damper doors working? Belt on, etc? Oil pressure circuit working OK?

Even with massive overheating, I really doubt that it would have destroyed 
that bearing. So I'd then try to analyze whether the #3 rod had the correct 
clearance. That would be my first suggestion. Was it plastigaged? Other than the 
shards, did the other rod bearings look OK? That should tell you whether it was 
a lube failure or just a tight bearing.

Keep us posted on your progress.
Regards,
Bob Helt