scroll down to this reply....this one is the right answer, LD9s are known for their bearings
QUOTE: azeniskid
Dealerships are full of @!#$. The reason that LD9's end up losing bearings which at times takes out the crank and rods is due to @!#$ty maintanence by the owner. If you ever plan to go race your car such as myself, you must always make sure you have your motor full of fresh clean oil. Valves on this motor will float at about 6500rpm or so. If you're driving daily there's no reason for you to rev that high in the first place. For race purposes the most you need to ever rev is up to 6200rpm that's about it. Your motor may vary depending on modifications. Don't listen to dealerships, they'll tell you that the motor should never be revved up to 5500rpm if that'll put the blame on you.
Another scenario. Why do you think SE grand ams are limited to 105-108? Because they lack the power? NO it's because of the tires that are used on the car.
Smart maintanence, and smart driving. Obviously if you race the car you'll shave off miles on the motors life, but racing adds in more stress than usual ho hum driving. After half a dozen runs at the track you'll end up burning up some of the oil due to the increased violence that the motor sees. yes, violence, it's appropriate and makes a good adjective.
have a good day, I'm done.
Some of those guys seem to be idiots.
Especially the one compalining his car won't rev above 3500 whil punching the gas with the brakes stabbed
2Kz24 wrote:scroll down to this reply....this one is the right answer, LD9s are known for their bearings
QUOTE: azeniskid
Dealerships are full of @!#$. The reason that LD9's end up losing bearings which at times takes out the crank and rods is due to @!#$ty maintanence by the owner. If you ever plan to go race your car such as myself, you must always make sure you have your motor full of fresh clean oil. Valves on this motor will float at about 6500rpm or so. If you're driving daily there's no reason for you to rev that high in the first place. For race purposes the most you need to ever rev is up to 6200rpm that's about it. Your motor may vary depending on modifications. Don't listen to dealerships, they'll tell you that the motor should never be revved up to 5500rpm if that'll put the blame on you.
Another scenario. Why do you think SE grand ams are limited to 105-108? Because they lack the power? NO it's because of the tires that are used on the car.
Smart maintanence, and smart driving. Obviously if you race the car you'll shave off miles on the motors life, but racing adds in more stress than usual ho hum driving. After half a dozen runs at the track you'll end up burning up some of the oil due to the increased violence that the motor sees. yes, violence, it's appropriate and makes a good adjective.
have a good day, I'm done.
Actually that isnt even right totally. Its not valve float. Its the oil pump. It cavitates the oil around 6k which leads to poor oiling across the #3 rod bearing. So revving that high consistently WILL blow up your engine no matter if its clean oil or not. 90% of LD9 failures Ive seen are #3 rod bearing. Seems like a pattern. Im pretty sure theres people on here going over 6500 with the 2.3 oil pump conversion on a stock valve train. Though there isnt really an power up there.
So in conclusion it REALLY is the owners fault. My boss probably has never changed the oil in her Z24 and its still kicking at 145K. She just drives like a typical woman.
My #3 bearing spun as well. Should have upgraded the oil pump.
Brent Willyard wrote:My #3 bearing spun as well. Should have upgraded the oil pump.
it's ok. you made the even smarter decision of picking up an eco.
I think considering how obvious this problem is and how easily it could be corrected, GM should have stepped up and done something about these engines:
1)Proper solution that people would appreciate: better oil pump
2)Cheapo fix since it isn't one of their high end models: Lower the rev limiter to match the oil pump's limits
Either of those solutions would have saved many engines, but I gues GM doesn't care about reliability...
D.Simoes wrote:I think considering how obvious this problem is and how easily it could be corrected, GM should have stepped up and done something about these engines:
1)Proper solution that people would appreciate: better oil pump
2)Cheapo fix since it isn't one of their high end models: Lower the rev limiter to match the oil pump's limits
Either of those solutions would have saved many engines, but I gues GM doesn't care about reliability...
Its easier and cheaper for them to blame the owner and bend them over for a service to fix it.
TheSundownFire (GME Chat) wrote:D.Simoes wrote:I think considering how obvious this problem is and how easily it could be corrected, GM should have stepped up and done something about these engines:
1)Proper solution that people would appreciate: better oil pump
2)Cheapo fix since it isn't one of their high end models: Lower the rev limiter to match the oil pump's limits
Either of those solutions would have saved many engines, but I gues GM doesn't care about reliability...
Its easier and cheaper for them to blame the owner and bend them over for a service to fix it.
I think in the long run it would be more profitable for them to have done the rev limiter cheapo fix. It would keep their vehicles on the road longer (so they still make money off of other repairs). Most cavalier/sunfire owners can't afford a new engine when this happens, so they get rid of the car and buy a nice reliable honda. So by cheaping out on the engine fix, they end up losing customers and there cars end up in scrapyards. Of coarse I'm sure they thought of all that. They probably figured that their target market aren't the type to be racing their econo cars.
I really don't know what you guys are talking about. The only reason the 2.4l oil pump exists is because of numerous complaints of NVH. It has nothing to do with screwing the customer.
I have no signiture
TheSundownFire (GME Chat) wrote:D.Simoes wrote:I think considering how obvious this problem is and how easily it could be corrected, GM should have stepped up and done something about these engines:
1)Proper solution that people would appreciate: better oil pump
2)Cheapo fix since it isn't one of their high end models: Lower the rev limiter to match the oil pump's limits
Either of those solutions would have saved many engines, but I gues GM doesn't care about reliability...
Its easier and cheaper for them to blame the owner and bend them over for a service to fix it.
Most people don't like having the rev limit of a diesel these days.
i find it amusing that SHOoff has nothing better to do but follow me around & be an unhelpful dick in even cross-forum. - Jon Mick
In the 7 years I spent in GM dealers I only saw a handful of LD9s come in with a spun rod bearing. One was a junk yard engine, another was a Michigan Motor Exchange engine, and the others were over 150K miles.
The Eco timing chain was a much larger issue in teh dealer than the 2.4 oil pump ever was.
mitdr774 wrote:In the 7 years I spent in GM dealers I only saw a handful of LD9s come in with a spun rod bearing. One was a junk yard engine, another was a Michigan Motor Exchange engine, and the others were over 150K miles.
The Eco timing chain was a much larger issue in teh dealer than the 2.4 oil pump ever was.
That supports the last part of my second post. Most j-body owners aren't pushing the engines enough for the oil pump to reach its limits. It seems common here because most of us here modify/race our vehicles. But in reality we only represent a small percent of jbody owners...
I currently have an over 200K mile 2.4 in my car that the previous owner had a S/C on (from what I recall anyways) and I have been less than gentle to it for its mileage. As far as I know it is still the original oil pump and bearings. I do however keep it between 1/2 over to 1 qt low (i dont check it as often as I should and it burns some oil). I do believe the previous owner took very good care of the engine while it was in his car and I change the oil every 2500-3500 miles. That is probably what is keeping this thing together so well.
My sisters 04 Sunfire on the other hand only gets oil changes when I happen to check to see if its due when I visit. Usually its several thousand miles overdue. The engine sounds like its on its way out.
mitdr774 wrote:
My sisters 04 Sunfire on the other hand only gets oil changes when I happen to check to see if its due when I visit. Usually its several thousand miles overdue. The engine sounds like its on its way out.
obviously this cannot be seen as a fault of the ecotec. although oils have come a long way in a small amount of time, going several thousand miles over on oil changes still isn't smart in my opinion. a thousand miles or so, ok, but anymore and you can't blame the engine if it gives out.
DId I blame it on the Eco in her case?? No, but I have seen numerous Ecos that did get oil changes every 3000 miles fail.
I see that this is just going to be another Eco/LD9 war again. I withdraw from further comment about the Eco in this thread.
