Trying to free up piston rings.

[F_R]

F_R---------Hope springs eternal.-----I guess we can not blame folks for trying.-----It is said that there are 20 million pounds of gold dissolved in ocean waters.-----I have instructed the grandson ( 8 years old ) to ----" figure out a way to get it out "------He is working on it.

And my brother is a retired rocket scientist / chemist (really). At least 50 years ago I told him that if he could discover a non-destructive juice to dissolve the white stuff that seizes the stainless screws in aluminum, I'd market it and we will both be filthy rich. Still waiting

 

[gm280]

Maybe just take the time, money and effort and disassembly the head and remove the pistons and do it the right way. Then you know positively they are all free and working like they are supposed to.

If, for chance, one of them broke off and scored up the cylinder or worst, you will certainly have a problem on your hands then. JMHO

 

[rolmops]

I've had this problem with a few frozen rings. I always just pour some "magical mystery oil" in the cylinders and let it sit a few days. Then I start up the engine and let it run a while. This has always worked for me.

 

[sutor623]

Yea I took her out this weekend after a decarb and she ran great. Guess it’s a ticking time bomb from what you guys are saying. Be a shame to catch a ring on a port. Ran a few cans of powertune through it and she was smoking pretty badly.

i don’t have the time/resources to pull this motor apart
right now unfortunately. I guess if she blows I’ll have to use one of my other two boats for the meantime

 

[Sea Rider]

CRC Engine tuner is only good to clean non hardened carbon accumulations on piston rings and entire exhaust system. If engine was running strong and you made a cylinder compresion test before and after the application will see a slight compresion increase when measured with a compresion tester. Decarbon products should be applied at min 50, max 100 cloked hours to maintain smooth operation and engine agility.

By experience, no product will clean/dissolve already hardened carbon build ups inside power head no matter how long the decarbon process is made. For that to happen will need to tear up the powerhead, perform a long parts soak in acrylic thinner ,carb cleaner, power tuner and mechanically scrape off hardened carbon formations. Time and extreme patience is mandatory.

Would you say that the engine runs much better and smoother at idle and has gained oustanding agility throughout the whole throttle range than before applying the decarb product ? Is it possible to know the procedure used to spray the product through the carbs ?

Yep, power tuner if applied liberally will smoke worse than a chinese poker gang smoking in a closed room LOL!!

Happy Boating

 

[sutor623]

I had never run this engine, other than on the muffs as it sat on the rotten bass boat that I got it off of. Compression was always solid and even across the board. The only reason I knew that the rings were stuck was because of pulling the exhaust manifold. All-in-all I am very impressed with how she is running.

I am going to run yamaha ring-free in a few tank fulls and get through this big catfish tournament. Once I get through that I will pull the exhaust manifold again and see if the rings are still stuck to the pistons. At that point I will have to make a decision if I want to rebuild this thing before it bends a rod, scores a sleeve or blows a hole through the block. I have two crossflows right now that run great. Id like to get some loopers instead but we will see where money is the next year or so.

 

[Sea Rider]

It's very difficult to spot a stuck piston ring cond when removing the exhaust cover as will see rings being shown sideways. If suspect piston rings are stuck make a compression test on all 3 cylinders to check if all show an even or near even compression.

If that engine is running great, for your peace of mind would't worry too much about having such issue which so far has not been plainly detected..LOL!!

Happy Boating

 

[racerone]

???-----You would use a wee screwdriver to push on the ring.-----It has to move in and spring back out.-----Very simple and easy test to do !!

 

[sutor623]

???-----You would use a wee screwdriver to push on the ring.-----It has to move in and spring back out.-----Very simple and easy test to do !!

Yessir! Good thing is the upper rings were locked into place when I started and I got those to free up by soaking etc. But yea if you push on the lower rings they dont spring back out. The do on the intake side though.........

 

[racerone]

They are jammed solid with carbon !!!---------They need clearance to operate properly.-----Bin there done that.-----Running around the boat or jumping up and down in slow motion will not resolve this, sorry.

 

[sutor623]

They are jammed solid with carbon !!!---------They need clearance to operate properly.-----Bin there done that.-----Running around the boat or jumping up and down in slow motion will not resolve this, sorry.

I always appreciate your honesty Racer. Telling us what we DONT want to hear but need to hear. I think I am going to run her through this big tournament that I have in march, then start running my jet boat for the summer and pull these pistons out and clean them up. Do you think its a waste of time to pull the intake block, break the rod bolts loose and pull the pistons out through the head? Just leave the powerhead set and not have to split the block? If I needed to replace the pistons/rings I would.

 

[racerone]

You keep looking for short cuts but there are none.-------In your do it in sittue method how would you line up the connecting rod caps ??-----How would you hone the cylinders and clean out the grit with crankshaft and precision bearings in place ??----Putting new rings in worn out grooves is also a bad practice !!