Freeing Stuck Piston Rings

This discussion on the SEL shed some good light on the subject revealing various methods which may be of help to you.

From: "jo ogborne" jopetertrigg@optusnet.com.au
Subject: freeing stuck rings 
Date: Tue, 5 Dec 2000 21:25:25 +0800

Has anybody ever used the rubber roller method of freeing stuck piston
rings ?I have a 6 inch diam piston with 4x 2 rings ? 50% are free but
the remainder are well and truly frozen . It has been suggested that if
i chuck the piston and at slow speed run a rubber or nylon toolpost
mounted wheel [like a knurling tool ] over the stuck rings they will
free up and the risk of breakage will be almost non existant. Any
comments ? Needless to say the piston has been soaking in distilate.
Peter and Jo Ogborne
Trigg Western Australia
jopetertrigg@optusnet.com.au


From: "Joe Prindle" jprindle@tznet.com
Subject: Re: freeing stuck rings 
Date: Tue, 5 Dec 2000 08:18:13 -0000

No, I haven't tried that one but... I have an air gun ( for blowing dirt off
and the like) with a piece of small copper tubing on the end. I clamp the
piston and rod assembly in the vise and scrub it down with a scothbrite pad,
take a dental pick and dig the crud out of the end gap on the rings and then
warm it up with the heat gun.(the piston, not the crud). Once it is warm to
the touch I give a little blast down into the end gap of the ring with the
air gun and they usually pop loose. Sometime I have to gently "massage" the
ring to get it to pop loose all the way around the groove but it is a pretty
gentle process, and while I have broken a lot of stuff, a ring has NEVER
been one of them. Did have a little "sledgehammer accident" with a mogul
piston one time though...
Joe Prindle

From: "jo ogborne" jopetertrigg@optusnet.com.au
Subject: Re: freeing stuck rings 
Date: Tue, 5 Dec 2000 21:49:47 +0800

Yes Joe I'll try that one ,maybe first . Another method was to gently tap
the stuck ring with a nylon hammer ,following it around the circumferance .
Peter and Jo Ogborne
Trigg Western Australia
jopetertrigg@optusnet.com.au


Date: Wed, 06 Dec 2000 08:23:03 +1100
From: RUSSELL GILBERT russell@vic.ozland.net.au
Subject: Re: freeing stuck rings 

|warm it up with the heat gun.(the piston, not the crud). Once it is warm to
|the touch I give a little blast down into the end gap of the ring with the
|air gun and they usually pop loose. Sometime I have to gently "massage" the
|ring to get it to pop loose all the way around the groove but it is a pretty
|gentle process, 

I did Joes method with both the hornsby piston and the blackstone and they
both freed up really well with exception to one ring on the hornsby piston.
It has four and one was already broken, two freed up easily but the last;
the minute I touched it; broke. It was very brittle and I realy think it
must have been cracked already but I'm not totaly sure.  The only
difference between what Joe did and myself is that once I warmed it up a
little I used the kero gun on the air compressor to blow out the crud that
was holding the ring in place. As no doubt many have said before, TAKE YOUR
TIME!

Russell Gilbert
russell@vic.ozland.net.au

"why kill only 6?, why not knock 24 of them on the head all at once!"

From: "Reg Ingold" randmingold@fastlink.com.au
Subject: Re: freeing stuck rings 
Date: Wed, 6 Dec 2000 09:15:49 +1100

I have used this method a few times. NO GOOD with pinned rings!  Use a
skateboard wheel. If one end comes loose and the ring is pushing it
foreward, reverse the lathe or it will surely break. It does work but, you
need to watch it all the time. Blink, oh Bugger!!
Reg & Marg Ingold.
Holmesville. N.S.W.
Australia.
randmingold@fastlink.com.au
http://www.oldengine.org/members/randmingold


Date: Tue, 05 Dec 2000 22:19:01 +0000
From: Jim French fbi@insulate.co.uk
Subject: Re: freeing stuck rings

Hi Peter

On my 5HP Petter M Victory all three piston rings were stuck.  I soaked
them with penetrating oil and paraffin for a couple of weeks and
eventually resorted to heat.  I used a 2 pint blow lamp and slowly
brought the whole piston and rings up in temperature.  When I spat on
the piston crown and it turned to steam, I started to intensify the heat
around the rings.  As the gunge behind the rings carbonised, it expanded
and loosened the rings.  I just kept rotating the piston with the heat
on the rings until they came loose.  I left it to cool naturally and
thought that the piston rings may have become brittle, but they came off
and were as good as new!  I don't know if this is the right way to do
it, but it worked for me!

Jim
--
Jim French
fbi@insulate.co.uk
http://www.insulate.co.uk


From: "Jerry Bernard" jerryb@mobiletel.com
Subject: Re: freeing stuck rings
Date: Tue, 5 Dec 2000 20:14:20 -0600

that kinda reminded me when i fixed my friends go kart that had been setting
up.   the rings were stuck, i was gonna try to spray some WD-40 down the cyl
walls, but after a few cranks nil compresson turned into maybe 13 lbs worth,
so i told my friend to keep pulling on the rope while i checked the
carbureator out. soon built up a VERY good amount, then i fiddled with it a
bit and VRRROOM!!
but those stuck rings had me puzzled at first.

Date: Tue, 5 Dec 2000 21:24:06 -0500
From: John Culp johnculp@chartertn.net
Subject: Re: freeing stuck rings

As I mentioned last month, a good spray of "S'OK!" in the cylinder of 
"Smokey Joe," my old WWII Homelite generator, freed the stuck piston 
in a few minutes and released the stuck rings in a few minutes more. 
No disassembly required. :-)

I'm not privy to its formula, but it smells like citrus peel oil, 
just like the stuff they sell in bike shops to clean chains, and I'm 
positive it's got castor oil in it. I could really smell it on that 
first startup!

John


From: "David Ernst" dada_didi@pyramid.net
Subject: Re: freeing stuck rings
Date: Wed, 6 Dec 2000 04:55:36 -0800

Hot water and lye will do the trick.  It will work quicker if you apply a
source of heat to the mixture for a few hours.  The added advantage is the
solution will also clean the lands and remove or loosen the carbon also.
Rinse very thoroughly.

Dave E


Date: Wed, 06 Dec 2000 07:20:10 -0800
From: Curt Holland curt@imc-group.com
Subject: Re: freeing stuck rings

Sometime ago, parts guy, Tim Crizan (sp?) shared his tip with me for removing
stuck piston wrist pins. He simply boils the piston in water until it is loose.
Perhaps this would work on piston rings too. Has anyone tried this?
Curt Holland
Gastonia, NC