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Piston ring replacement

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8.5K views 13 replies 3 participants last post by  theheed08  
T
#1 ·
I have had an issue with white smoke and oil in my exhaust. I took out spark plugs and the right side had black on it while left looked fine. I started taking apart engine because after looking at other post it could be because of piston rings. I was planning on replacing them but after reading I am confused. Can I just get OEM piston rings and replace old ones or do I need to do something with cylinder? Is it possible for rings to go bad and that's it?

PS I have a 1989 ex500 with 18,000 miles. Thank you for any input

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S
#3 ·
Could be rings could be valve seals/guides.

Get another motor then rebuild your current motor as time allows, then sell the other motor. You wind up with a new motor and very little loss when you sell the spare.

Figure a day to swap on each end, which means your bike is only down for two days. How many miles on the bike now?
 
F
#7 ·
OK here we go,
1st you didn't need to open the engine. you color problems are carb related.

2nd. since you removed the head, this is the Humpty Dumpty thing. Now you must lap the head and cylinders. and the rings can be re fitted but if you want new ones you must hone the bores. Then you will find the rig gaps too wide. So 1/2mm OS rings are requires and re gapped to .005.

No there is no optional method.

FOG
 
F
#10 ·
The black is a fuel issue most likely a leaking float valve in the Side. The problem with remove the head comes from the engine design.

Because the cam chain gallery splits the engine right down the middle. it acts like two single cylinder engines taped together with duct tape (The thin webs fore and aft)
As the engine runs, these independent cylinders squirm and move around a lot causing the head and cylinders to get all twisted out of shape. This is fine until you separate them. They then cannot be matched up. SInce the head gasket is a non compressible single piece of steel ,if you don't re lap the head and cylinders flat you will have a gas leaker that will soon overheat.

FOG
 
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