2004 Cadillac DeVille - Main bearing - Is ti tricky?

Maintenance/Repairs
1

Main bearing is they easy to do car have little knocking noise to it can I save it?

2

My crystal ball says… sorry, do you want to try that again? where it actually makes sense, so we know what you are really asking

Main bearing is easy to do
can I save it?

Chrystal ball says… yes, if you fix it, you can save it.

3

Main bearings easy… No. Replacing the bearings is hard enough but the crankshaft likely must be machined so the engine must come out and apart.

3 Likes
4

Yes, it is very tricky! Since you didn’t know the answer to your own question, I will presume that you need me to ask: what makes you think you have a main bearing problem? There are a lot of possible choices for noises and vibration. Getting a correct diagnosis is also very tricky.

5

Tester

6

North Star motor has 2 main issues. The case 1/2 seal leaks oil so pan is dropped and bottom of case/block is removed to reseal. You could change bearings but I don’t think a 2004 deville is worth effort. Headbolts is next issue. But don’t go there.

7

Personally, when someone starts asking about replacing a main bearing on an older vehicle, I think:

  1. Get at least a second estimate.
  2. Start looking for a new vehicle, or at least a new engine.

Good luck.

2 Likes
8

Yeah, if the main bearings are bad, there are lots of other ones likely on their way out, too, along with the rings.

9

As for Tester’s cotter pin trick:
years ago there used to be a tool made just for that. It was a little “T” shaped thing called a “roll out pin”. You used it exactly the same way it’s shown in Tester’s posted video, except it was a tool made specifically for the job.

The problem with them was that sometimes the bearing was stuck in the block badly enough that the pin wouldn’t roll it out. And by the time you figured out that it wasn’t coming out the bearing was also so beat up by the pin that it HAD to be replaced, it couldn’t run at all any more.

I don’t know when they stopped making them, but I couldn’t find any with Google.

In any case, if you have to ask, you’re already in way over your head.

10

A cotter pin’s much cheaper.

Tester

11

That’s not a rollout pin.

12

Another rollout pin, different design.

Tester

13

There you go, that’s the rollout pin I remember.