5 replies to this topic

[Takeshi]

Hi, i have a 998cc A series engine. Today on the m4 my 2 cylinder piston ring went and i am now running on 3. Obviously i cant use the car. I am wandering if anyone knows how many hours labour this will take to repair so i can see how much it will cost, i have a mechanic who is only £25 p/h. Also, how difficult a job is it?

Thanks very much
Luke

[The Matt]

Hi, i have a 998cc A series engine. Today on the m4 my 2 cylinder piston ring went and i am now running on 3. Obviously i cant use the car. I am wandering if anyone knows how many hours labour this will take to repair so i can see how much it will cost, i have a mechanic who is only £25 p/h. Also, how difficult a job is it?

Thanks very much
Luke

Is it definitely a piston ring that has gone? How have you identified this to be the problem?

£25 per hour is not a bad rate for a mechanic, but it depends if he's a good un. I'd rather pay a good mechanic £50 per hour to do the job in 4 hours, than an average one £25 per hour to do it in 8 hours!

[Dan]

Not really possible to say without seeing it. If a ring really has gone and it's badly damaged the bore then it's a major engine overhaul. If a ring has gone and not damaged the bore too much it might come out with a hone and then you only need a little work. It could be not a ring at all and just a head gasket.

[Takeshi]

There was quite a lot of oil on the spark plug on the inside, the same cylinder isn't firing at all. Tried changing the spark plugs over but had no effect. The HT lead is firing, so it must be something in the block thats gone. The recovery man said that the oil on the plug points to the piston ring.

Thanks anyway.

[Dan]

oil on the plug points to the piston ring

....or a bent valve, or worn valve seals and guides, or a blown head gasket, or a cracked head, or a blown piston. Still could be pretty much anything.

Generally Minis with cracked piston rings generate huge clouds of white smoke under sustained heavy load.

Your engine needs to be stripped and assessed before any plan can be made about how to fix it or how long it will take.

Edited by Dan, 03 May 2006 - 04:54 PM.

[vasi]

A shot ring, generally speaking, will create large amounts of blowby into the crankcase. You can usually tell by lifting out the dipstick while the engine is running, and seeing if smoke / oil is being splattered out.

As Dan says, there are many things that can cause this oily plug syndrome.