Steam clean
09-16-13, 05:14 PM
#26
no problem, i did experiment a long time ago with some engines that had very low mileage and the seals were within spec. BUT the spec only gives a height dimension for both halves of the seal combined, in some cases you will find the halves do not wear equally and technically are out of spec for halve wear.
i have pulled apart too many engines that never should have failed that needed numerous hard part replacements simply because the seals wore to the point of slipping out of the rotor and getting crunched.
IMO, an n/a engine should never crunch an apex seal and many FC owners have had it happen. at least with turbo engines there are other reasons why the seals would prematurely fail so it is somewhat an accepted possibility.
the other problem with those 3 piece seals is the seals became carbon locked more easily, which resulted in 0 compression when the engine sat for a few months. i used to deal with a lot of air force customers and a few ran into that issue. once the problem started it seemed to become a recurring theme because the seal slots in the rotor could not be cleaned even with a steam clean of the engine.
i have pulled apart too many engines that never should have failed that needed numerous hard part replacements simply because the seals wore to the point of slipping out of the rotor and getting crunched.
IMO, an n/a engine should never crunch an apex seal and many FC owners have had it happen. at least with turbo engines there are other reasons why the seals would prematurely fail so it is somewhat an accepted possibility.
the other problem with those 3 piece seals is the seals became carbon locked more easily, which resulted in 0 compression when the engine sat for a few months. i used to deal with a lot of air force customers and a few ran into that issue. once the problem started it seemed to become a recurring theme because the seal slots in the rotor could not be cleaned even with a steam clean of the engine.
Last edited by RotaryEvolution; 09-16-13 at 05:18 PM.
