Tricks to free up stuck rings

F

fomocoguy

New Member
I've got an XS500 that I'm doing a poor mans resto-mod on and it was seized up good from sitting since 1984. After a few weeks of dumping marvel mystery oil down the sparkplug holes I was able to push it off the center stand in gear and break it loose. After carbs/tank/electrical work she runs pretty good, but smokes a little when hot (only the left cylinder- that was the stuck one). I know the proper thing to do is tear her apart and rebuild the top end, but before I do I wanted to take advantage of all your experiances and see if you have any suggestions on something I could pour down in there to help get the rings loose. Who knows, if I can get them freed up from there grooves they may seal better and cut down the smoke.

Any suggestions? It would have to cut the rust that's probably packed in around the rings without damaging anything underneath.

Maybe I could fill it with naval jelly.... ;D
 
If you aren't going to pull it apart to clean it up then just run it as is and do an oil and filter change at some point.
It could be that the bore has corroded so the rings may not seal no matter what you tip into it.
 
If there was rust bad enough to cause the rings to seize in the bore, you're going to want new rings and at least have the cylinder honed. You may be looking at needing to have them bored, depending on how bad the rust is/was.

No amount of "pouring" anything down there is going to help.
 
You'll spend more on Marvel and gas mileage than a rebuild will cost, and nothing's going to do it besides tearing it down...
 
All is not lost. For one thing, it may take nothing more than putting a few thousand miles on the bike to reseat the rings.

I would do a Seafoam engine treatment. Follow the label directions. Get the engine up to operating temperature. Put 1/3 of the can in your crankcase, 1/3 in the gas tank. Pull the plugs and pour some in each cylinder. Let it sit until the engine is cool.

Turn the engine over before you put the plugs back in. Do it outside, because some Seafoam might shoot out of the spark plug holes. Put the plugs back in and start the engine. Ride it gently for a few miles. (Don't forget, your oil is contaminated with Seafoam, so don't stress the engine.) It will make clouds of white smoke. Once it stops making white smoke, go back home and change the oil. With fresh oil in it, take it out and run the Hell out of it.

I give it a 50-50 chance of making significant improvement.
 
Re: Re: Tricks to free up stuck rings

AlphaDogChoppers said:
All is not lost. For one thing, it may take nothing more than putting a few thousand miles on the bike to reseat the rings.

I would do a Seafoam engine treatment. Follow the label directions. Get the engine up to operating temperature. Put 1/3 of the can in your crankcase, 1/3 in the gas tank. Pull the plugs and pour some in each cylinder. Let it sit until the engine is cool.

Turn the engine over before you put the plugs back in. Do it outside, because some Seafoam might shoot out of the spark plug holes. Put the plugs back in and start the engine. Ride it gently for a few miles. (Don't forget, your oil is contaminated with Seafoam, so don't stress the engine.) It will make clouds of white smoke. Once it stops making white smoke, go back home and change the oil. With fresh oil in it, take it out and run the Hell out of it.

I give it a 50-50 chance of making significant improvement.
Click to expand...

After thirty years? I gotta meet your bookie. :)
 
Thanks for the replys guys. I know the cylinder is probably pitted, and I've had enough seized up old project bikes to have a good idea what shape shes in. I just wanted to hear any tricks that I may have never heard of for freeing up the rings. I'm hoping that a few good rides blasting around back roads will help a bit. It's not terrible, just a nice blue haze when you give her hell.

Alphadog, thanks for mentioning the seafoam. I didn't even think about it. Once I get her back on the road I'll give it a shot. 8)
 
Re: Re: Tricks to free up stuck rings

Rich Ard said:
After thirty years? I gotta meet your bookie. :)
Click to expand...
;D I know it's a long shot, but what the hell. I once freed up an xr100 by beating the piston out, and sanded some of the rust out with 80 grit sand paper. Put it back together and let the rings eat out the rest of the rust. I was shocked when it started. It smoked for a few hours riding, but after that she ran like a champ. I shit you not, we pulled it back apart about a year later and you could hardly tell it had ever had any rust in it, and I'm telling ya, it was bad. I literally had to beat the piston out.
 
VonYinzer said:
Fix it right or gamble all the other money and time you put into it. Your call.
Click to expand...
Normally I would have already pulled it apart, but this is one of those $200 investments that I'd really rather not dump too much money into if I don't have to. Hell, if it keeps running good and just smokes a little it will probably get ran like that until who knows when.
 
The SeaFoam treatment will help. But everyone here has good points.

I just had a friend try seafoam, who was quite skeptical that it would help, and was pleasantly surprised how well it works on freeing things up, keeping carbs clean, and just all around decent additive. He restores old trucks for his hobby, and hadn't heard of it before. He is old school, and usually would not use a mechanic in the can. But after his experience with it, recently thanked me for the advice.

If you go through my oil/chemical cabinet at home, there are no additives but sea foam. I never liked the STP's, Gumout's, etc that promised to help, but never seemed to. I've have been fixing things for 45 years, and SeaFoam is the only one that seems to work for me. I learned of it from my Merchant MArine cousin who worked for Exxon/Mobile on their Tanker Ships. When you are out at sea, and no shops nearby, you become very good at "making do". He also supplied us with Devcon Epoxies, which he also said was the best epoxy as well as JB Weld. None of the ships he was on ever sank, so there must be something to it. He had stories about plumbing, plates, engines, all sorts of repairs. He could weld and run his machine shop on board. He would make parts when appropriate, but he also had a knack for knowing when the chemical business (Dev-con, SeaFoam, Etc) would be the right tool for the job too.

So Devcon, JB Weld, and SeaFoam are my choices when they are needed.

In a previous career, I used to clean ?Oil Tanks out (LARGE ones). If they are buried, and a manhole cover was not located, we would cut into them and later, close them up using Devcon Epoxy. We guaranteed the seal and repair (Small metal straps, and the epoxy in the seam, no welding) for 10 years, and never had a warranty call back. The stuff was excellent when applied correctly.
 
Thanks for the input! I pulled the plugs yesterday while I was checking the point gap and drooled some seafoam in there. I saw today at the parts store that they actually have an aerosol version now with a spray tube, so I bought that. I'm gonna shoot a little in there every day until I get it all back together, then do it per their instructions and see if it helps any.
 
mydlyfkryzis said:
In a previous career, I used to clean ?Oil Tanks out (LARGE ones). If they are buried, and a manhole cover was not located, we would cut into them and later, close them up using Devcon Epoxy. We guaranteed the seal and repair (Small metal straps, and the epoxy in the seam, no welding) for 10 years, and never had a warranty call back. The stuff was excellent when applied correctly.
Click to expand...

Oh man, I love Devcon Plastic Welder - it's good to five tons! We've used it to repair headlight assemblies, plastic radiator tanks, laptop hinges, Honda Shadow fenders, CBR fairings, and so on!
 
I'd do the Seafoam treatment first. Ultimately you will need to re-build the engine at some point, but a "little" smoke from one cylinder does not signal the onset of Armageddon.

Worst case scenario is that it will burn more oil and start to foul plugs over time, unlikely that it will turn into a hand grenade without warning.
 
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