PISTON RING REPLACEMENT

george

I was talking to a mechanic yesterday who seemed very knowledgable about the z22se and its problems, snapped chains and smoking engines. He was pretty sure my problems are due to valve stem oil seals and not piston rings.

He did say however its a much easier job to take the sump off and remove the pistons from below without taking the cylinder head off to check out the piston rings and replace them if required.

I challenged this because I have always been told on this web site that this is not possible.

He was adamant 100% certain that it could be done from the sump.

Anybody managed doing this method please? notsure.gif notsure.gif

rushy

My dealer took the head off to get to them, maybe cos there more versed in setting the chains up?

MikeS

by taking the head off then u dont really need to drop the crank out as u can gently push them up through the cylinder walls but risk scratching the walls unless u cover the rods up, by leaving the head on then you can visually inspect the block and components by dropping them out , i would personally leave the crank on if the rings and pistons show no sign of wear as it is a bitch setting up the bottom end, tis much harder making sure everything turns over properly with correct clearances, if he does drop the bottom end then expect it to be expensive as you would be a fool not to replace the bearings, rings, oil pump and light hone

if there is any piston / ring damage them the crank needs to be dropped and inspected with all new bearings, this applys to to the con rods and cylinder walls

personally if i was gonna break the engine then i would take the head and sump off and split everything and inspect bit by bit and replace the rings, bearings, oil pump, oil stem seals, re grind the crank and very fine hone of cylinder walls

i would do a compression test tbh, check the pressure on all 4 cylinders and if one is lower by a bit then drop a few drops of oil in there and restest

if the oil raises compression then it 99% likely either ring or piston damage

signs of ring damage is smoking under heavy load whilst stem seals is oil blowing out after idle for a minute and on starting the engine, could even possibly be a cracked valve guide

end of the day m8 i would do a compression test and if it reveals anything then you will have no alternative but to split and check every component for wear

deano1

hi i recently replaced my piston rings as my car was smoking even though i had good compressions you will need to remove the head to get the pistons out not a bad job to be honest a full ring set cost me £80 deliverd and i now get no smoke wot so ever im led to belive its a common problem on the z22se engines.hope this helps

vocky

I have to wonder how you could replace the piston rings without removing the head, the pistons will not come out the bottom due to the crank bearing flanges cast into the block, so I think it's impossible !