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Sticky rings

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Morris

Morris

Yoda
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So I have what I believe to be sticky rings and I am wondering if there is any way to remedy this problem without removing the head and pistons.

A little history: I rebuilt the motor about 9000 miles ago. At first I got a very strong vacuum signal. But after running the car for a while with a very ill designed crank case ventilation system that was causing all kinds of oil to be sucked into the intake the rings started leaking. The leaky rings have been confirmed with a leak down test.

I can temporarily fix the problem by running some Sea Foam through the intake, but the problem inevitably comes back.

Do you guys know any tricks? Or is it R-and-R time?
 
Pretty much had the same thing happen to me. I honed and re-ringed the motor. Seemed to straighten out the problem. Did it with the block in the car. it was a real PITA. But no more smoke and the leakdown numbers came back down.


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R&R. It's almost MORE work to try doing it with the engine in the car. Bench it, mark all bearings and pushrods, etc... stone the bore LIGHTLY and replace the rings.

The chance of getting something down in the crank bearings, oil passages, etc. ain't worth the aggro, IMO.
 
DrEntropy said:
R&R. It's almost MORE work to try doing it with the engine in the car. Bench it, mark all bearings and pushrods, etc... stone the bore LIGHTLY and replace the rings.

The chance of getting something down in the crank bearings, oil passages, etc. ain't worth the aggro, IMO.
Click to expand...

:iagree: Did pistons and liners in my TR4 in '68 or '69. I was much younger then. I could get up and down so much easier and my vision was far better than it is now. But even then I knew I would not do it that way again.
 
The problem is not too bad to bear. I am afraid of all the might as wells that will happen if I pull the motor. Gunna have to pay off Christmas and save a little scratch before that occurs.
 
They do have oil that doesn't smoke when it burns. $$$$ though.

Maybe try some Lucas oil treatment.

Actually, I'd do Rislone first, then Lucas.
 
I've re-ringed my 1500 in the car several times. It's better to pull it out, but I didn't think it was *that* hard in the car.

If you really think it's sticky rings and not something else (maybe from super-rich mix when you were getting your injection system worked out?), you might try kerosene.

Put all the piston at "mid-stroke" and pour about a pint of kerosene in the spark plug holes. Let it sit for as long as you can (a week or two). I've done this (in an old junkyard engine) and it helped. A friend of mine did this to a similar "smokey" engine using MEK and said it worked well too (but that stuff is super-toxic.......I'd try the kero).
 
Did your "rebuilt" include oversized pistons and bore/finish hone? Or the usual glazebuster with same pistons?
 
The car doesn't really smoke too much. It's just the imperfection that drives me crazy.

My rebuild did included bored cylinders and oversized pistons.

I like your kerosene idea Nial. I was wondering about putting some Marvels Mystery Oil in the plug holes. Or would that just be pouring money down a hole so to speak?
 
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