Freeing Stuck Piston Rings

Leave the piston soaking in diesel for as long as you can, taking it out occasionally to 'worry' at any area of the rings which show signs of movement.Dunking in boiling sometimes helps to get things moving. Most importantly, take your time - just to prove I don't take my own advice, I've often broken a ring by trying to remove it when it was nearly free when another week of soaking would probably have done the trick :-(

Nick H.

Hi George,

The advice about boiling water is sound. I go a bit further and have my own special saucepan for boiling pistons on the stove.

Be patient and holding the well boiled piston in a towel, 'tease' at the rings (where the ends meet) with a small flat jewelers screwdriver and eventually you will have success.

Quenching in cold water momentarily and re boiling is useful with stubborn rings. As they start to loose squirt some penetrating oil in the grooves and keep fiddling.

Special saucepans are available from the car boots for pennies and you don't get a telling off for leaving an oily scum ring on 'er in doors best kitchenalia.

Oh and do it when she's out as it makes the house smell hot and oily with a hint of metal....I quite like it !!

Happy fiddling and don't be tempted to rush things.

All the best Rich.

"Dickymint" wrote

Sounds like a good idea - I won't use Helen's best spud pan though!

Nick H.

I'm a woodworker. I have "my own" saucepan for boiling sharpening stones :-)

All sound advice...

BugBear

What an interesting thought! I've no doubt sooner rather than later another piston with stuck rings will appear & I'll give it a try.

The only alarm bell I heard ringing was the possible effect on the piston and/or rings of repeated heating to 100o & crash cooling to perhaps 20o.

Anyone got any thoughts on this?

Regards,

J. Kim Siddorn,

"Kim Siddorn" wrote

I'm certainly going to try boiling but perhaps not 'the big chill' - though I think it's pretty unlikely to do any damage, particularly on alloy pistons.

Nick H

I wouldn't expect it to do any damage because compared to the temperatures reached in use boiling point isn't really that high. If you were dropping into somethig like liquid nitrogen to cool it then yes, something would probably give ;-) But I suspect the temperatures - upper and lower - available in the kitchen will do no harm.

On a more gentle note I once saw a rather neat set up in a workshop. A tank full of diesel - a large cut down oil drum which was used regularly for unsticking ancient machinery. It had a mesh grid a few inches above the bottom, to allow muck and sediment to fall through and settle and an agitator which used an old vacum cleaner and a hose pipe to keep the oil circulating. The owner would run it periodically throughout the day whilst he was in the workshop and the gentle bubbling action would constantly but gently worry at any loose carbon and rust. Sometimes he would hoist the item onto a wooden draining rack and give it a gentle prod, a tap with a hammer, or attack it with a wire brush before lowering it back into the bubbling depths.

But even with this semi-automated process he still stressed the need for patience. "Restoration is no job for a man in hurry, Boy."

Gyppo

I have just given the boiling method a god on my ruston 2ps piston which had

2 stuck oil rings. It now has one partially stuck oil ring and the remains of the other. However the damage had all ready been done before i set about the piston. A hole from the water jacket into the barrell seems to have allowed water to get onto the piston and thus rusted the piston up somewhat. Unfortuantely the bottom of the 2 oil rings seems to have suffered badly and was allready badly worn and smahsed. In getting the ring out I just happened to smash it in another place. I have now left the piston soaking and will go back to it tomorrow and see if I can entice the other ring out safely.

Mike M

miley snipped-for-privacy@hotmail.com

I might actually try and build this from scratch. I have all the materials i think..... I wil update you on any progress and possibly a link to some pictures.

George

---------------------------- I have obtained good results using a sonic cleaner Mike.H.

M> I have obtained good results using a sonic cleaner Mike.H.

Tell us more - homebrew or a commercial unit?

nickh=== Posted with Qusnetsoft NewsReader 2.2.0.8

------------------------------------------------------- Small commercial unit for cleaning small carbs etc. Place the piston in a Pyrex beaker containg the release medium of your choice I have tried lots and found cellulose thinners to work well.Stand beaker in cleaner filled with warm water or heat it if the machine has a heater. My best time was one hour on a two stroke piston with soft carbon holding the rings. Aldi were selling small sonic units some time ago for £16 not seen them since. Mike.H.

"Mike.H." (snip):-

Ah, I bought one from Tchibo (sp?) but Helen has appropriated it as a jewellery cleaner!

Nick H