rings not seating?

[beaver2489]

I have the motor setup in my sig. It was built last summer, but never driven that much until this month. We started off with the motor running on EFI with a A9L mass air conversion, #24 injectors, 255walbro pump, trick flow intake, Kirban AFPR set at 38-48 (tried several). When we first started the motor we let it idle for 5-10 min, checked for leaks, checked pressure and gauges,etc...we revved it up a few times (not high);repeated this a few times. It didn't want to idle much though, b303 cam didn't wanna work with computer I guess. anyway I believe we used a synthetic oil, which I'm thinking we shouldn't have done. The car was driven normal around town for about 2weeks, but ran tike $h!t. We couldn't get the thing to run right with the b303 cam and mass air conversion. It running real rich, even if we turned the fuel pressure down. The car sat for about 5 months without being driven(started maybe twice). Its not my daily driver now so we did a carb conversion and it runs MUCH better. No more problems with computers .

anyways, the car is smoking out the exhaust now. I changed the oil once after the short "break in" and put more of the synthetic oil back in. this oil was in when we still had EFI on the car. SO, if the oil got gassy, and sat for 5 months...my rings didn't totally seat. If I change the oil to 20w-50 and add some "stop smoke" type of oil thickening addative, could this help my rings seat? thanks

also the rings were plasma moly I believe
I'm also gonna get a smaller carb (650dp)

 

[HISSIN50]

how is compression? I would NOT want to run 20-50 in a new motor myself, but that is just me. I would consider switching to dino oil in hopes that the walls are not glazed.

Good luck.

 

[jerryD]

by the sound of you breaking in the motor, IMO you did it incorectly. you are not supposed to hold the RPM at one spot. it needs to be varied from 1500-2500 for about 15-20 minutes during initial break in. if it was runing so rich and black was coming out the pipes, the extra fuel could have "washed" away any oil on cylinder walls and also prevent the rings form seating properly.

usually about 95% of the rings will seat during initial break in. The other 5% will come from putting miles on the motor under a load going uphills and such. around 500 miles and the rings are completly seated, if it still smokes it was either not broke in properly, too much ring gap or ring orientation is not right.

 

[HISSIN50]

And with some motors, most of the ring seal occurs VERY quickly (within a few minutes).

 

[beaver2489]

Well, he didn't just hold it at one rpm. I didn't explain it very well. My buddy has built many motors and broke in mine the same way he does all the others. Also it wasn't so rich that black smoke came out. The oil was VERY gassy smelling though. Oil pressure was 75 when motor was cold, every time. The motor has around 600miles on it now. Whitish blue smoke is coming out at idle now. It has a new pcv and its hooked up properly & theres a push-in air breather in one of the valve covers.

It started smoking right after I did the mass air conversion. We thought maybe going up to #24's and the computer not accepting the cam, and the oil smelling so gassy, that maybe the gas in the oil had caused the rings not to seat. I'll try the oil change and see what happens I guess. If not, I'll have to re-ring already

 

[HISSIN50]

You have a MAF cal'd for the injectors, right (as an aside)?

I would not sweat the initial start up - solid lifter cams are held at 1500 for 20+ mins, with no issues.

What does your builder/buddy say about it?

Good luck.

 

[txstang84]

correct me if i'm wrong, but don't cr-mo rings take longer to seat than other rings?

 

[jerryD]

if smoke is coming out at idle, then also check the valve seals.


i dunno if chrome moly rings take longer to seat.

 

[beaver2489]

I'm gonna change the oil tomorrow, and I'll see if we can check the valve seals.

and yes, the maf I was using was cal'd for 24's. Thanks guys. I'll update tomorrow night. Hopefully all is well

 

[z2o_what]

you may want to pull the plugs out and spray WD-40 in the cylinders and let it set over night

this will free stuck rings...so maybe it will help seat 'em