How do you unstick rings

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H

High Country

10 Year 15 Year
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May 10, 2006
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5
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I may have a stuck ring on my 22RE, Somebody said somthing about using diesel fuel to unstick the rings? How can I tell the difference between a stuck ring and a broken ring? If it is a stuck ring what is the procedure for unsticking them
 
I am not sure what a stuck ring is either. Do you mean a rusted to the cyclinder wall ring? A broken ring is indicated by low compression and specificaly indicated if you drop some oil in the cylinder and the compression increases and then goes down again.

If you think you have rust issues, you can put some oil/lubicant in the cylinder and let it sit for a while i.e. days.

What are the symptoms?
 
High Country said:
How can I tell the difference between a stuck ring and a broken ring?
Click to expand...



Remove the cylinder head, drop the pan and push #2 piston and rod assembly up out of the block, you then will be able to look at your rings and cylinder wall and verify if the rings are in fact stuck in the piston, or if they are broken....

This is really the only way to BE SURE about it and not guess...


Good luck!


-Steve
 
Poser said:
Remove the cylinder head, drop the pan and push #2 piston and rod assembly up out of the block, you then will be able to look at your rings and cylinder wall and verify if the rings are in fact stuck in the piston, or if they are broken....

This is really the only way to BE SURE about it and not guess...


Good luck!


-Steve
Click to expand...

I think the point was that if you could do a simple procedure to unstick the rings, It would save you from having to tear down the engine. I agree that your suggestion would be a sure fire thing, but tearing into the engine should be a last resort......kinda like surgery.....

Dan

ps. If you post in the 40-55 section you might get more help, as those guys deal with stuff like this more than the rest of us.....
 
Try putting a ounce or two of Dexron atf(tranny oil) into that cylinder,disable the coil,leaving that spark plug out and with a rag over the plug hole turn the engine over a couple of times to distribute the oil,or best to just turn it over by hand so it does not spray oil out the plug hole,let it sit for a few days.Now again with no plug turn it over with the starter and with rag over the plug hole to get most of the excess oil out.Might hydraulic lock if to much oil in cylinder.Install plug and fire it up,unfortunatly with the atf in that cylinder it will smoke alot when you start it up,but it will clean out.
You can also put about a 1/2 a liter/quart of atf into the engine oil and drive it for a 2 or 3 days,a product -seafoam is said to work well also,but have not found it locally here,basically these are a high detergent oils and will help to clean the motor.
 
Pop the head off and dump a buncha lube down there let it sit for a few days and with the head off put a chain wrench on the main drive pully and watch the cylinder pump as you crank it. if there is a lot of tension on the chain wrench you probobly have a broken ring because it should move fairly easy once the rust has broken free. and if you snap it uhh i didnt tell you to do this... :P
 
p.s. if you do that be gentle with it.
 
Unsticking rings

Brake fluid is by far the best solvent for something like this. Just last week a friend of mine sold his brothers old Baja bug that had been sitting for over ten years. The engine was frozen solid. The new owner let diesel sit in the cylinders for several days....the engine did not free.......then he used several ounces of brake fluid......the engine was free and running within an hour.
 
HC is not trying to free up a seized engine, he is trying to see if he has a ring stuck to his piston......read the link.

That being said, all of the above are not bad ideas....


Update....
 
KliersLC said:
I think the point was that if you could do a simple procedure to unstick the rings, It would save you from having to tear down the engine.
Click to expand...



Hey Dan,


Read the quote:


High Country said:
How can I tell the difference between a stuck ring and a broken ring?
Click to expand...



If there were some magic way of telling the difference with the cylinder head on, do you really think that I would have suggested removing the cylinder head?


Hey Dan,


How do you discern between a broken ring and stuck ring with the cylinder head on the engine?



:beer:
 
High Country said:
I may have a stuck ring on my 22RE, Somebody said somthing about using diesel fuel to unstick the rings? How can I tell the difference between a stuck ring and a broken ring? If it is a stuck ring what is the procedure for unsticking them
Click to expand...







Have you removed the rocker cover and verified that you do not have a stuck valve in the #2 hole?
 
Poser said:
Hey Dan,


Read the quote:






If there were some magic way of telling the difference with the cylinder head on, do you really think that I would have suggested removing the cylinder head?


Hey Dan,


How do you discern between a broken ring and stuck ring with the cylinder head on the engine?



:beer:
Click to expand...

Steve,
if it unsticks, that pretty much lets you know that it isn't broke.

On a high mileage engine this wouldn't as much as of an issue due to the higher probability of broken rings, but on a 75k 22re, broken rings are almost unheard of. He would be going through a lot of uneccesary trouble, time, and expense to tear down the motor if it is only a stuck ring. If he tries everything and it still has no compression, then he really doesn't have a choice.
However, if he tries a couple of tricks and it happens to be a stuck ring, and it happens to come loose, he has saved himself a lot of work with minimal effort.

Like I said before, surgery is a last resort.

:beer:

Dan
 
i would try and get a hold of a boreascope it is a small camera that goes down the plug hole and you can check for vertical scratchs. in my experience i havent seen stuck rings on an engine that is running. if you use brake fuild in the cyclinder then it needs to be flushed completely out of the system because it can react with the oil and lock the engine up.
 
I find it hard to believe that I have a broken or even stuck ring, the truck gets driven about 80 miles a day. I am going to pull the valve cover check to see if I have a stuck valve or loose valve adjuster. I will let you know what I find.
 
If oil squirted in the cylinder raises your compression significantly, your problem is not in the valves.

But go for it, may as well do a valve adjustment while you are in there.


Dan
 
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