Common Causes Of Piston And Piston Rings Damage In A Generator

It is always necessary to respond to the need of our visitors that visit with serious search terms seeking solutions online especially on engineeringall.com.

While replying to the recent trending search term of causes of piston and piston rings damage in generators, I found out that majority of our previous posts relating to engines had not been read by some of them.

So to understand better, it is good one go through the previous posts on this topic of the piston and its rings after reading this one.

The piston is a major part of an engine, and; if it is not there the engine will not function irrespective of how good all the parts of the engine may be. 

It is like the heart of every human which leaves the human dead once it stops working. Therefore, the piston is essential in an internal combustion engine.

It is the piston that plays the role of compression, suction, power stroke, and smoke exhausts so without it there will be no engine operation.

The piston is located in the center of the combustion chamber, it has a connecting rod that links it with the crankshaft.

The reciprocating motion of the piston in the combustion chamber causes the crankshaft to rotate, it is a case of transfer of motion from a reciprocating motion to a rotational motion of the crankshaft.

Hence, if the piston does not rotate, the crankshaft will not also rotate.

On the other hand, piston rings are sets of two, three, or four rings usually worn around the piston. The functions of the piston rings include;

• Ensuring proper compression of the air-fuel mixture in the combustion chamber.
• Ensuring proper evacuation of the burnt content (carbon monoxide) in the chamber.
• Helps lubrication to exist at the clearance between the rings and the walls of the combustion chamber’s cylinder, by trapping the lubricating oils coming from the crankshaft’s rotation.
• Protect the combustion chamber from excessive heat by creating clearance between the cylinder wall and the piston.
• Reduce the wear and tear ratio in the chamber.
• It can help to prevent damage to either the piston or the cylinder wall. And Etc.

These and more are the functions of piston rings, however the rings due undergo frequent damage more than any other little parts of the engine located in the combustion chamber.

The reason is because of the vital roles they play to prolong the lifespan of the engine by ensuring that little or no damage is done to the entire combustion system.

It is vital to note that any time an engine knock occurs definitely the piston rings have been damaged and must be replaced.

Before an engine knocks the piston rings will first expand due to the increased temperature of the engine.

So when the expansion has reached the clearance gap between rings and cylinder walls the rings will stick to the combustion cylinder walls and cause the piston to stop its reciprocating motion thereby shutting the engine down, which is when we say engine knocking has occurred.

Besides overheating, other factors that can cause piston ring damage and such include incorrect fixing of the piston ring, using the wrong size of piston ring for a particular piston, and others.

Having known some factors that usually damage the piston rings. Let us discuss of the piston itself.

The piston as said earlier is vital, and may not develop a fault or get damaged easily if everything in the engine were in another.

In other words, before the piston got damaged something else was not in order in the engine.

If an engine is having overheats, it can lead to engine knocking which may damage both the piston and its rings or the rings only depending on how serious the knocking may be.

If an engine plug used in the combustion chamber is longer than it was meant to be in the chamber, it can be hitting on the surface of the piston to cause piston damage.

Also, if the piston was made with the improper material it can be expanded in an unusual way to cause frequent engine knocking and eventually got itself damaged.

These and other factors are what make the piston to be damaged.