B&S Quantum XE 5.5HP

[Richard Milhous]

That cylinder looks pretty ragged. I can see texture on it with my glasses off. If you want to rebuild an engine to learn, I suggest finding one that will be serviceable. Hell, you can rebuild mine.

Here's what will happen if you put a new piston/rings into that cylinder, no matter how well you hone it:

It will burn oil like crazy. You'll be cleaning the spark plug constantly, and removing the head to scrape out carbon.

It will blow lots of oil out of whatever crankcase ventilation it has, making a huge mess in your intake, carb, air filter, or lawn depending on where the crankcase is vented to.

Your oil will be contaminated with blowby, which is corrosive and degrades oil viscosity.

The new rings will wear out quickly, making all these problems worse.

 

[djg618]

Oh NO! I wasn't saying I was going to rebuild it anymore. I was just asking to confirm my thoughts that it WAS too far gone. I will, as I said, practice honing the cylinder to see how much comes off with each method I use. But I won't waste my time and try to go all the way. I have a chainsaw that will need a new piston etc. A lot more value in it than this engine.

 

[djg618]

Since this engine has been officially declared deceased, I would appreciate your thoughts and comments on my other thread "Intake Manifold". I would like to get this one running if I didn't screw it up too bad.

Thanks

 

[Joed756]

New rings are cheap, try to smooth the piston and bore out the cylinder. You don't have much to lose.

 

[djg618]

New rings are cheap, try to smooth the piston and bore out the cylinder. You don't have much to lose.

I got the REPLACEMENT engine going and installed on the splitter, but I still plan on working on this one. I believe the piston is toast. It's deeply scored. The cylinder is still up in the air. I'm going to clean it up and see. I think piston/rings are like $50, so still better than a new engine. Need a new $6 gasket too.