My VG30DE rods are knocking. It sounds like, its only one of them. I need to replace rod bearings.

This is going to be a long project. I'm wondering, is it possible to replace rod bearing by just droping the oil pan?

I mean I could just have the car jacked up, drop the oil pan and start working on it. Have any body, replaced rod bearings on their Z32?

That belly should be exposed if the oil pan is droped.


Any thoughts?

Thanks.. ahead

It can be done... but it's easier to pull the engine, flip it over, remove the pan, and do it with plenty of room.

If you insist on doing it with the engine in the car, you must remove the entire front suspension and steering rack (as well as some trans brackets) to remove the pan. The engine pull is actually easier.

If you're afraid of pulling the engine, then you're not ready to replace rod bearings on your own. Ripping into a block to replace vital engine components is NOT for amateurs.

i disagree that its easier to pull the engine. theres so many vacuum hoses and lines and wires and all that fun stuff to remove. it took just as long to pull off the intake manifold on my n/a as it did for me to get the oil pan off my tt. Im actually in the middle of this project myself, I work in a shop so i have a lift which gives plenty of room. its actually alot easier to remove the cradle and oil pan than i had assumed. first thing first tho is supporting the engine from the top as the engine mounts are on the cradle that you need to remove, fortunately for me my shop has an engine support beam that rests on both sides of the engine bay, just had to take out 3 of the coil packs and run a chain under 2 sides of the intake collector to support the engine. just 2 bolts for each control arm, undo the brackets holding the rack to the cradle, disconnect the steering linkage from the rack, unbolt the mounts from the cradle. from there the cradle should come out. not even needing to take out the rack. the rack should just move out of the way. there are 2 brackets between the engine and the tranny that need to be taken out but theres just 2 bolts holding each to the tranny. once those are gone you should be able to just undo the bolts for the oil pan and pop it off. then 2 bolts for the sump and take that out. then there you go. clear access to the rod bearings. good luck.

4yr old threads should die peacefully...