Rod Bearing problem, My car knocks....and my mechanic said i spun the rod bearing.. Options

[BeefyT]

I starved my engine of oil and now i spun my rod bearing ....does anybody know how much or what u have to do to fix it?

[BeefyT]

what happens when i keep driving the car....what will happen?

[alltracman78]

It's not some weird, unusual fix, it used to be pretty normal. And not just done in half assed shops, it was done at the dealer as well. Most half assed shops won't touch engine work today anyways.
It's not as common anymore because shops have [mostly] moved away from fixing parts and moved to replacing the entire component.
Do you think your dealer is going to rebuild a bottom end?
How about a transmission or rearend?
It's all sent away to specialty shops to be done, or brand new components installed.
Most reputable shops don't rebuild things, they swap in a used/remanned one. There are plenty of exceptions, but they're exceptions, not the rule.
It's easier to gaurantee a brand new [or factory remanned] part than one rebuilt by a tech. Plus it's more money and less work.
As far as a used engine, as long as the crank and rod check out; IMO my used engine is more trustworthy than one from I don't know where. At least I know what's been done to mine and how it's maintained.

You don't have to pull the piston out to check the top bearing.
Rotate the crank out of the way and pull the rod down [if you can't imagine this working, just imagine how far the crank pulls the rod down; look at the crank throw at its lowest point; the piston/rod can drop at least that far safely] to check the rod and replace the upper bearing. While the crank throw is down, you can also check the journal.

If you doubt me, go ask the experienced techs at your shop. If their daily driver spun a bearing [assuming the car and engine are in decent shape], would they replace the entire engine or just swap bearings?
I bet most of them wouldn't even check the crank/rod [aside from a quick finger ran over it, maybe a plastigauge], they'd just throw the bearings in [cheap for them, and not a whole lot of work] and see if it ran ok.

Point being
1-It's not a 6+ hour job to do, it can be done correctly [if the shop is willing] in 2 - 3 hours.
2-This isn't his only option, but it's his cheapest viable one. If he shut the engine off as soon as he heard the knock there's a pretty good chance the journal is ok. If that is the only problem with his engine, and he shut it off right away, IMO he's better off going with his current engine than a questionable one.
If he decides to drive around on it, that's a whole different story, and if he can afford a brand new or factory remanned one, that won't hurt either, but I doubt he can.

what happens when i keep driving the car....what will happen?

You will damage/ruin your crank, and eventually throw the rod [destroy the entire lower end].