2005-2014 Mustangs Discussions on the latest S197 model Mustangs from Ford.

how to keep piston rings in good shape?

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Old Feb 20, 2014 | 12:53 AM
  #11  
tx_zstang's Avatar
tx_zstang
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Keep in mind, the stock crankcase ventilation and "pcv" pulls vapors into the intake and will pul in oil as well, and of course, burn it.
And, when these cars are cold, they will naturally smoke a little.

Depending on how the smoke really is, there might be a serious issue. If the car was bought used, someone could have damaged the engine before getting rid of it.
As mentioned, compression and leak-down tests will test the rings. But also, spark plugs can tell a big story, if there's a lot of oil in a cylinder or two. That's where I would start, try to determine a possibly problematic cylinder.
Old Feb 20, 2014 | 12:56 AM
  #12  
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tx_zstang
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(duplicate)
Old Feb 20, 2014 | 08:56 PM
  #13  
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tbear853
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Originally Posted by Roy_R
I assume there is blue smoke when he accelerates? Keeping the RPMs low, can cause the piston to not fully extend and travel the full distance in the cylinder head. Overtime, with wear, a ridge line is formed...if you then go WOT, the rings hit that, and may be damaged....take the plugs out and inspect the cylinder walls, also do a compression test.
Pretty sure that unless the crankshaft or the rods are made of elastic materials .... the rings on the pistons will "go up to" .... and "stop at" .... the same point once on every revolution of that engine's life .... unless a catastrophic failure is experienced .... at which point it's life is likely to be halted in short order.

The ridge is simply the unworn portion of the cylinder wall up where the rings never ride. In most cases it gets cut out with a ridge cutter at rebuild time .... but if not severe and depending on planned use and budget, it may get left in place.

Last edited by tbear853; Feb 20, 2014 at 09:02 PM.
Old Feb 21, 2014 | 01:27 AM
  #14  
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bigblue95z
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Only way to verify a ring issue is to do a compression test and/or a cylinder leakdown test to verify you have compression issues. You can do this yourself with basic, cheap tools you can pick up at any AutoZone (plus an air compressor). Look up how to do the tests yourself. Super easy. Give you piece of mind they're not pulling a fast one on you.
Old Feb 22, 2014 | 12:03 PM
  #15  
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99 cobra clone
 
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From: Maryland
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Originally Posted by RazorGT
My friend has a 06 gt just like mine and he takes amazing care of his car but found out he was leaking oil through his exhaust and his piston rings were messed up and basically saying he gotta get a rebuilt engine??

He has like 75k miles and I got 35k, why do u think his rings went bad? He doesn't ever dog his car and always keeps up with maintenance, and its 100% stock.
well if oil is dripping out of the tailpipe, that means he has no catalytic converters, witch means its not stock. He probably has at least one set of rings that are pretty much gone. And I've never heard of someone not running a motor hard and this happening. Are you sure that's his original engine, never rebuilt? Ether way best way to keep your rings in good condition is to use the proper octane fuel, and the proper weight oil.Avoid using fuel and oil additives until your around 130,000mi., and only use one product every 3000mi., to insure you know what a particular product is doing to your motor
Old Feb 22, 2014 | 02:30 PM
  #16  
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trexflyer
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Originally Posted by RazorGT
well he had oil coming out the back of his exhaust (actual oil, not just condensated water) and when he looked in his oil pan there was hardly any in there
Meaning he pulled the drain plug and almost nothing came out? I'm not an expert but I'm pretty sure running an engine with no oil is kinda bad
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