Technical Anyone with experience in getting stuck rings free

Hi all, the 283 in my 61 Belair has started to exhibit a lot of blow by. Over the last couple of years I haven’t driven it as much as usual so I’m hoping the blow by may be a result of stuck ring or rings even though I have always changed oil every 6 months regardless of miles driven. Before I pull it apart, I was hoping you folks may have some suggestions for “snake oil” treatments that I could try to cure the blow by. When I use the term “snake oil” I don’t mean that in a bad way, just a generic term for additives, good or bad.
Thanks heaps in advance.

 

Do leak down test on all 8 cylinders
So you can do***ent which cylinders might be low or one that possibly causing issue ,
"" Not a compression test""
Burning oil could be valve seal or guides , more likely seals are dry rotted and cracked.

Stuck ring ,
I think 50/50
Transmission fluid & acetone.
Or Direct into spark plug holes
Marvel mystery oil.
Maybe kerosene or diesel.
Someone will try in with other snake
Some snake does work.

 

With the car running pour a little bit of diesel down the carb throat, you’ll need to increase the throttle opening at the same time or it’ll stall. It will smoke your neighbours out.

But to be honest if driving hasn’t sorted it I don’t hold out much hope.

 

PS if your rings aren’t stuck pretty much everything you do is going to clean away any carbon build up which might be the only thing sealing your pistons.

 

Bore scope can help by looking @ piston & cylinder bore , Valves with out pulling apart ,

 

I'm betting the valve seals need replacing

 

smoke on acceleration, piston rings
smoke on deceleration....valve guides
....a rule of thumb that sometimes is only good for measuring a thumb so....
leak down test as suggested
an other visual indicator is crank case pressure....pulling the oil filler cap and observing what blows out of it at hot idle
I would take it for an extended drive and flog on it for a time or two, it just may be letting you need to do that
....but to answer your question....Sea Foam poured thru the spark plug opening and soaking over 24 to 48 hours...
Sea Foam will dissolve carbon...I will attest to that....

 

ATF down the carb. You have to goose the throttle to keep it running and you will smoke out the entire neighborhood. Worth a try if it is truly stuck rings and not something else. JMO .

 

ATF or water down the carb throat will help with carbon build-up. It will smoke a lot with ATF, and lot of steam with water. Both need to run at higher rpm to prevent stalling. Or give it the Italian tune-up and WOT up through the gears, rinse and repeat.

 

My Dad used to use Marvel Mystery Oil in that old two-stroke lawnmower he had when my brothers and I put straight gas in it so we wouldn't have to mow the lawn. We got away with that trick a couple of times before he started putting mixed gas in it himself.

 

I recall some guys older than me using Coke as in Coke-Cola back in the day to free up stuck rings. HRP

 

When oil consumption gets too much, or loss of power is too much, I just take it apart, hone and put in new rings.

I'm too cheap and lazy to waste my time trying to fix it any other way.

 

AND YOU GOT AWAY WITH THAT? My dad would have handed me the weed cutter and said get with it,. IF I was lucky.

Ben

 

I see a lot of guys commenting on oil consumption, but the poster was talking about blow-by. If you have a lot of blow-by it's probably going to have to come apart. You can try all different kinds of snake oil before you take it apart to fix it correctly.

 

First off there is no mention as to whether this engine uses a road draft tube or a PCV system. The problem could be as simple as a plugged crankase draft tube, vent hose, sludged up oil fill breather cap or fouled up PCV valve. No need to tear into the engine for that.

Blow-by is mostly unburned fuel and water vapors that have managed to get past the rings and into the crankcase. Are you also seeing smoke from the tailpipe? As already mentioned, badly worn intake valve seals and guides will show smoke from the exhaust. Usually seen at idle or during deceleration when manifold vacuum is high. Might also see it when starting the engine after setting overnight.

But bad valve seals and guides won't really add any blow-by to the crankcase. The intake valves see only vacuum and can pull oil past the seals and guides and into the combustion chamber. The exhaust valves see pressure and unless the exhaust is restricted nearly all exhaust gases will go out the tailpipe and not past he guides and into the crankcase.

 

As far as rings MMO will be of benefit over time in regular usage.
To answer your question though...
Back in the day when we had oil bath air filters, leaded gas, road draft tubes,
and the accepted practice for oil change, was to change the filter every other time,,,
The go to 'Snake Oil' was called RISLONE. It's still around and won't harm your engine.

 

Rislone was a great solver of lifter ticks for me years back.
I’ve no clue what it actually did, but work

 

Yeah, best luck I’ve had is pulling everything down and cleaning everything especially the piston ring lands put it back together, no problem… works most every time. Oh yeah you can take care of the sticky valve guides too.

 

My experience with the main causes of blow-by have been from engines sitting and having the top rings stick, faulty crankcase venting or an engine running too cold to evaporate moisture buildup
Seafoam was used for quickly dissolving carbon, by the service techs at a pleasure boat place I once worked at. I've used it to clean carbon fouled plugs and had it work well for that. Because I let it sit over the winter, I use MMO in the fuel of my heap to help with valve stick and I ***ume it works for ring stick as well...so far, so good.

 

As mentioned blow by will show up as excessive crank case pressure, simply remove the valve cover filler or tube filler place your hand over the opening, accelerate the engine, you should feel a suction on your hand, if you feel pressure- you have blow by.
An old timer told me when I was a youngster to free up stuck rings, remove the plugs and fill the cylinders with white vinegar, let sit overnight.
Good luck

 

It worked for me, takes longer than sitting overnight to eat aluminum

 

Issue with filling a cylinder up on a V engine, many pistons won’t be full of whatever is used, as opposed to an inline engine.
So some thought needs to be used and to what pistons are low enough to fill so both sides get the “soak”

or actually the full cir***ference does

 

@Budget36 Well you have a point there, my engine problem was self induced by installing a higher lift cam in a high milage engine (remember I was a youngster). It took out the valve guides causing high oil use. In my case only 7 of the cylinders loosened up. Ended up tearing that engine down and boring.030 over. The old piston were not damaged by the viniger.

 

Thanks for the tip. I’ll try to borrow a leak down tester.
Cheers

 

I’m hoping for the best, but expecting the worst. Thought a little snake oil might do the trick. No harm no foul. Cheers

 

I’ve pulled the breather when it was good and hot after a drive and there was a good amount of smoke from there. I have replaced valve stem seals thinking this may have been the problem. When driving I don’t see smoke from the exhaust until after some deceleration. Thanks for your advice. Cheers.

 

Yeah, I thought that might happen. It may need to be torn down anyway. Cheers.

 

I mentioned oil consumption and loss of power, as reasons to fix the engine. Blowby isn't a reason to do anything. The thing is, excess blowby is usually accompanied by oil consumption, and lack of power.

 

I have looked in the bores and I can see good cross hatching from a rebuild so I’m hoping that at worst it needs new rings. Hopefully. Cheers