Ive tried all of the tricks I found on here and the damn outer oil control ring still wont seat. I can get it into the groove and push it below the rotor face, but it keeps popping back out almost as if the spring is too tall. Without the spring in the groove it will seat and stay in. Has anyone run into this problem before?

 

did you bend the locking tabs as per atkins video?

if you bend the locks too much it will have too much return spring and want to push the seals completely back out, lessen the amount of bend on the tabs and retry.

if not, make sure the springs aren't upside down(rounded edge facing the rotor) and that the locks are oriented into their grooves.

 

yes. use extra oil ring case and press it in. if it slips back out then try cleaning off some of the vaseline and try to re seat. if it still pops out then just be careful that it doesnt fall all the way out when assembling the engine. when you tension your rods, it will re seat. if the groove does not catch the spring, it will rotate till it does catch.

 

When I get home I'll check this. I bought the springs from a friend unused. However, he may have bent the tabs up in preparation for his build. This is the only explanation that makes sense.

 

meant to say, rounded edge should be facing the rotor.

 

So I gave it another shot with no luck. I tried different rings, different seals, and different springs and the fvcker won't stay in. so I flipped it over and tried the other side. Went in just like the first one but didnt pop back out. Im at a loss. The groove is clean and I know the ring/spring/seal combo works on another face. It slips in fine and just pops right back out every time. Talk about frustrating.

 

You using lube? If you dont I can see it wanting to spin in spots, once its down it just rolls the ring back up when you let go. Pull the o-ring off the control ring, lube the whole thing, slip it back on and try to seat it again.

Ive never "thought" about how the spring goes, I just make sure it looks like it should per the FSM pic with reguards to rotation direction.

Never had the problem your having in 10+engines. There are some aftermarket orings that really suck, but I generally avoid them.

 

I agree. As far as I know, they aren't really supposed to "seat" all the way in when assembling them by hand. They should sit a bit higher than your side seals. If they didnt have any movement or resistance when you apply pressure, I'd assume you'd either be burning through copious amounts of oil, or have blow-by problems (or both).

 

I had to work at some of mine quite a bit, but others popped in place just fine. I used old control rings to help press mine in place and that worked pretty well.

 

put your back into it