Won't budge

[Dobber]

I have a piston with the top two rings seized. These were new ( rings and pistons ) when the p.o. put the motor in storage. when I bought it, I oiled all the cylinders several times over the last 6 months and all but these two rings came out ok.. I have tried all the obvious, soaked in Sea spray for three days, tapped on rings, put it in a pot of boiling water for 5 min., tapped on rings and they just won't let loose. Has anyone got a wild card out there?

[Zed Head]

You could put it in an oven at about 300 F. or hotter. The coefficient of thermal expansion is higher for aluminum than steel, that should open the gap. Let it soak to get full growth of the piston and gap. Oven mitts should be okay to handle it.

Never done it myself, but that's what I would do.

If you want to save the piston and sacrifice the rings, you could try taking a small center punch and break the rings out in pieces, on the hot piston.

One more WAG - Naval Jelly might reduce the oxidation that's holding the ring in the groove. Oxidation, if that's what happened in your case, tends to "grow" the parts it's working on. Get rid of the oxidation, you might get rid of the sticking.

[240260280z]

Small flat screwdriver or drift and tap at a tangent to the piston. The drift or flat screw driver has to bite into the ring gap.

[Dobber]

Thanks guys. I have been tapping on the end gap, to no avail, other than the little chips in the ring land. %$#@

I'll throw it in the oven and see what that does. Besides starting a wtf are you doing with my oven question.

Blue, could you pls. read my post about the crankshaft again? Let me know what you think.

[Dobber]

Well with a combination of heat soaking in the oven and a bigger hammer, I successfully extracted those buggers. Thought it was going to be a new piston for sure. Thanks for the tip Zed Head.