Total Seal piston rings blowby?
08-16-2008, 08:58 AM
#1
Total Seal piston rings blowby? Chances are I'm just worrying too much, I really hope I am with this one any ways. This has been a frustrating build so far, it seems all that can go wrong has, you guys know the kind...
Anyways, I followed the moto break in procedure and basically drove it how it was going to be driven from day one. Conventional oil Rotella 15W40, GM oil supplement to reduce piston scuffing, etc. Cranked it with no fuel or ignition until I saw oil pressure, this took about 8 cranking sessions, then fired it up for about 25-35 seconds just to make sure all was good and that oil pressure came up as it should. I kept it idling up around 2000-2500RPM during this time. Oil pressure was lower than needed (About 20psi at idle) so I pulled it back out and found that the "barbell" was not installed, so I installed it and fired it up again, this time oil pressure was great so I let it idle and get warmed up, made sure there were no leaks, let the air bubble out of the cooling system and took it out. Kept the RPM varying between 2k-5k RPM, drove it for about 20 or 30 minutes. Ever since then it's just been varying RPM, it's had some idling time, it's had crusing time, it's had redline time, just pretty much putting miles on it.
For the rings I used total seals conventional nitrous rings, steel top ring gapped at .024 top ring and .026 second ring. All my clearances were done with the expectation of big boost or big nitrous. The engine turned over about 500 miles this past week and I wanted to run a compression test just to check that everything was alright and they came back lower than I'd liked. 165-180 with most cylinders at 175-170. I'm also burning through some oil as well. More than before. I will be doing a leakdown test as soon as I can pick up the tester and an air compressor, but I'm beginning to worry that my rings didn't seat correctly. I did it just how I was instructed to and EVERY piece inside this new motor is brand new so compression should be just fine.
I've been reading that some people are having issues seating total seal rings and that the website recommends 2,000 to 3,000 miles before they fully seat and seal into the cylinder wall. I just wanted to get some of you guys' opinions on this. I really hope that the rings just didn't seat correctly, I really don't want to have to pull this thing apart to re-hone the cylinder walls and put new rings on it. Tracy from RevExtreme told me to pull the oil fill cap off and start the car, putting my hand over the hole and see if it's puffing air out, if it was, he said, then I was getting a lot of blowby. There was no air puffing out or anything. The intake has a nice film of oil on it though right down into the intake runners so maybe the PCV system isn't working correctly but it's all been converted over to the LS6 system and is new so there's no reason why it shouldn't be.
Anyways, I would greatly appreciate some of your opinions, sorry for the long post.
Anyways, I followed the moto break in procedure and basically drove it how it was going to be driven from day one. Conventional oil Rotella 15W40, GM oil supplement to reduce piston scuffing, etc. Cranked it with no fuel or ignition until I saw oil pressure, this took about 8 cranking sessions, then fired it up for about 25-35 seconds just to make sure all was good and that oil pressure came up as it should. I kept it idling up around 2000-2500RPM during this time. Oil pressure was lower than needed (About 20psi at idle) so I pulled it back out and found that the "barbell" was not installed, so I installed it and fired it up again, this time oil pressure was great so I let it idle and get warmed up, made sure there were no leaks, let the air bubble out of the cooling system and took it out. Kept the RPM varying between 2k-5k RPM, drove it for about 20 or 30 minutes. Ever since then it's just been varying RPM, it's had some idling time, it's had crusing time, it's had redline time, just pretty much putting miles on it.
For the rings I used total seals conventional nitrous rings, steel top ring gapped at .024 top ring and .026 second ring. All my clearances were done with the expectation of big boost or big nitrous. The engine turned over about 500 miles this past week and I wanted to run a compression test just to check that everything was alright and they came back lower than I'd liked. 165-180 with most cylinders at 175-170. I'm also burning through some oil as well. More than before. I will be doing a leakdown test as soon as I can pick up the tester and an air compressor, but I'm beginning to worry that my rings didn't seat correctly. I did it just how I was instructed to and EVERY piece inside this new motor is brand new so compression should be just fine.
I've been reading that some people are having issues seating total seal rings and that the website recommends 2,000 to 3,000 miles before they fully seat and seal into the cylinder wall. I just wanted to get some of you guys' opinions on this. I really hope that the rings just didn't seat correctly, I really don't want to have to pull this thing apart to re-hone the cylinder walls and put new rings on it. Tracy from RevExtreme told me to pull the oil fill cap off and start the car, putting my hand over the hole and see if it's puffing air out, if it was, he said, then I was getting a lot of blowby. There was no air puffing out or anything. The intake has a nice film of oil on it though right down into the intake runners so maybe the PCV system isn't working correctly but it's all been converted over to the LS6 system and is new so there's no reason why it shouldn't be.
Anyways, I would greatly appreciate some of your opinions, sorry for the long post.
08-16-2008, 10:55 PM
#4
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If you've only gone through a little oil, It should be expected with your gaps and ring choice. Especially since your motors brand new. If you set up for a BIG shot, you probably running a really hard top ring, and they haven't completely seated all the way. But even if they have, you chose to go wide on your gaps. Your gonna have to live with the consumption (as long as its small)..
Your cranking comprsion is more than fine. What would make you think its to low?? a compression test is a crude way to test. I'd wait another 500 miles
what kind of consumption are you talking about?? Are we talking about a 347 or a 427? etc etc etc..
Your cranking comprsion is more than fine. What would make you think its to low?? a compression test is a crude way to test. I'd wait another 500 miles
what kind of consumption are you talking about?? Are we talking about a 347 or a 427? etc etc etc..
08-17-2008, 12:27 AM
#5
If you've only gone through a little oil, It should be expected with your gaps and ring choice. Especially since your motors brand new. If you set up for a BIG shot, you probably running a really hard top ring, and they haven't completely seated all the way. But even if they have, you chose to go wide on your gaps. Your gonna have to live with the consumption (as long as its small)..
Your cranking comprsion is more than fine. What would make you think its to low?? a compression test is a crude way to test. I'd wait another 500 miles
what kind of consumption are you talking about?? Are we talking about a 347 or a 427? etc etc etc..
Your cranking comprsion is more than fine. What would make you think its to low?? a compression test is a crude way to test. I'd wait another 500 miles
what kind of consumption are you talking about?? Are we talking about a 347 or a 427? etc etc etc..
The rings really might not yet be seated fully after 500 miles??
