When do engines lose their piston ring tension?

Status
Not open for further replies.
Joined
Nov 29, 2009
Messages
7,217
After how many years does it take for an engine to lose the tension in the piston rings? Not necessarily because the engine is worn out, but because it's just old. There are cars that are 15 years old and still don't burn a drop of oil. I know on diesels they generally get pushed out towards the cylinder walls when running whether they want to or not just because all the compression gets behind the rings and pushes them out even if they're worn out.

I learned about this on one of the car enthusiast TV shows years back and got to thinking about it, so if this is completely wrong or not even an issue, then the blame goes to them. lol
 
Overheating a engine is a quick way to ruin ring tension. other than that i have taken engines apart 50 years to 70 years old that the rings were fine. cly wall wear is more the issue.
 
Originally Posted By: Ramblejam
Edit; think you're more interested in TV shows and forum banter.


I like the professional answers and opinions giving on this site, I've mentioned it before.
 
Originally Posted By: motor_oil_madman
Originally Posted By: Ramblejam
Edit; think you're more interested in TV shows and forum banter.


I like the professional answers and opinions giving on this site, I've mentioned it before.


Ramblejam must be great at parties, add him to your ignore list.
 
Originally Posted By: motor_oil_madman
I like the professional answers

If that's true, I'd highly encourage you to start here. It won't take long to read-through, and you'll have a basic understanding of the subject matter and be able to actually discuss the topic...not just take shots in the dark.
 
Originally Posted By: cptbarkey
Originally Posted By: motor_oil_madman
Originally Posted By: Ramblejam
Edit; think you're more interested in TV shows and forum banter.


I like the professional answers and opinions giving on this site, I've mentioned it before.


Ramblejam must be great at parties, add him to your ignore list.

Ignored eons ago, unfortunate that when quoted, he shows up in the next post.

Overheating is when rings lose tension. Now that does not mean they wont wear, and that is measured and calculated by ring end gap and cylinder measurements.
 
Last edited:
It is never really mentioned, but I think what can cause real problems for the rings in general is if a car is babied all its life then it changes owners to someone that likes to "wring" out an engine on on-ramps and likes to pass on the right with high RPM.

This causes the piston ring to engage an area that was within the design spec but never touched before, so the rings bang over a "bump" in the upper cylinder wall.

It can even cause a "lifted ring" I have heard...

But aside from that, if someone rarely changes the oil and neglects the car in general is where ring and cylinder wall wear causes a loss of compression.

The actual ring loosing "springiness" I highly doubt, as the ring fatigue would be so great at that point the ring will just break in short order.
 
If piston rings are anything like springs, then they lose tension when actually used instead of just sitting idle.
 
Originally Posted By: Falken
It is never really mentioned, but I think what can cause real problems for the rings in general is if a car is babied all its life then it changes owners to someone that likes to "wring" out an engine on on-ramps and likes to pass on the right with high RPM.

This causes the piston ring to engage an area that was within the design spec but never touched before, so the rings bang over a "bump" in the upper cylinder wall.

It can even cause a "lifted ring" I have heard...

But aside from that, if someone rarely changes the oil and neglects the car in general is where ring and cylinder wall wear causes a loss of compression.

The actual ring loosing "springiness" I highly doubt, as the ring fatigue would be so great at that point the ring will just break in short order.


I've heard that's how they break. You buy a car from an old lady who drove to the grocery store for 15 years and then a 16 year old kid buys it and the connecting rods stretch a bit and piston rings hit the wear ridge at the top of the cylinder and break.
 
Originally Posted By: Ohle_Manezzini
Not time related, but cycles, debries, corrosion and other and abuses.


and excessive heat
 
Overheat them, run oil too long and coke them up, I'd bet those would be two major contributing factors.
 
Originally Posted By: cmhj
Originally Posted By: Ohle_Manezzini
Not time related, but cycles, debries, corrosion and other and abuses.


and excessive heat


Yes, that and coking fall i the "other abuses category"... ,)
 
My 2003 ION suffered some kind of ring failure despite proper care. However, I almost never hear bad stories about other Ecotec engines.

Anyway, I am not used to seeing any ring problems unless the car was abused. As stated before, overheating and oil sludge or coking are the result of abuse and lead to ring failure.
 
Originally Posted By: Falken
It is never really mentioned, but I think what can cause real problems for the rings in general is if a car is babied all its life then it changes owners to someone that likes to "wring" out an engine on on-ramps and likes to pass on the right with high RPM...


Are the piston rings so advanced now they actually take into account on which side the driver is passing and suffer additional stress related to this detail?
shocked2.gif
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top