There are many posts on BEBs for the 1HD-T engine, most being swapped with at least 100 000 mile on the dash. Some have shown early signs and some have been, well frankly miraculous that the engine hadn't thrown a rod. My first 80 was done at 107k and two cylinders were showing some pretty serious degradation. I appreciate also that some shells have come out looking like they'd go the stars and back. There have been lots of discussions about the cause of this degradation, but it's clearly not wear. Material seems to be removed from one part of the bearing and generally deposited somewhere else building high and low spots. Some of the metal simply disappears.
The perceived wisdom is that it is connected to the chemical composition of Japanese V European oils ad their respective calcium content. Low calcium EU oils seem to leach the calcium out of the white metal of the shells. Look, it's what I have read
Possibly changing your oil more often might have a detrimental effect as you keep introducing new low calcium oil. But, there is a randomness to this whole story that I can't explain.
So, here's my result. I have a 94 12v auto with 71 000 on it. Yes, that's seventy one thousand miles. I bought it as a non-runner after it had stood for 8 years. DVLA confirmed that it had not been on the road since 2003.
So why bother to change the BEBs. Even with current form, they should be good for another 30k or with my driving, 6 years.
Here's what a typical shell looked like when I pulled them
And another. Ignore the little marks on there, these have been bounced on the drive, wiped, chucked in a tin etc.
But on number 2, which was the last one to get pulled, I found this on the bottom cap
Some little familiar looking marks.
Then when I inspected the top shell.....
Now, I know that these would have run to 100k at least, but it's interesting that on such an almost unique vehicle there are signs of degradation. When you look VERY carefully, some of the shells have the faintest of marks appearing. They wouldn't show up in a piccy.
Yes, I could have put them all back in and saved the money on the ACLs. I could have probably used the cap bolts again. I bet you could torque to 27 ft lbs plus 90 degrees and they'd go forever. But why chance it?
So anyone out there who is new to this and thinks that careful maintenance or low mileage means that the bearings will be perfect, had better think again.
Chris
The perceived wisdom is that it is connected to the chemical composition of Japanese V European oils ad their respective calcium content. Low calcium EU oils seem to leach the calcium out of the white metal of the shells. Look, it's what I have read
Possibly changing your oil more often might have a detrimental effect as you keep introducing new low calcium oil. But, there is a randomness to this whole story that I can't explain.So, here's my result. I have a 94 12v auto with 71 000 on it. Yes, that's seventy one thousand miles. I bought it as a non-runner after it had stood for 8 years. DVLA confirmed that it had not been on the road since 2003.
So why bother to change the BEBs. Even with current form, they should be good for another 30k or with my driving, 6 years.
Here's what a typical shell looked like when I pulled them
And another. Ignore the little marks on there, these have been bounced on the drive, wiped, chucked in a tin etc.
But on number 2, which was the last one to get pulled, I found this on the bottom cap
Some little familiar looking marks.
Then when I inspected the top shell.....
Now, I know that these would have run to 100k at least, but it's interesting that on such an almost unique vehicle there are signs of degradation. When you look VERY carefully, some of the shells have the faintest of marks appearing. They wouldn't show up in a piccy.
Yes, I could have put them all back in and saved the money on the ACLs. I could have probably used the cap bolts again. I bet you could torque to 27 ft lbs plus 90 degrees and they'd go forever. But why chance it?
So anyone out there who is new to this and thinks that careful maintenance or low mileage means that the bearings will be perfect, had better think again.
Chris
And a fair bit of oil was coming of out the hole. 
