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Old 16-08-18, 04:42
Malcolm Towrie Malcolm Towrie is offline
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Location: Whitby, Ontario, Canada
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Default How often to run the engine in a Centurion?

Hi, as I've mentioned in a few other posts, we plan on getting our Centurion up and running and I've had great advice here. So I have another question. I've seen and heard from various quarters how important it is to regularly run the Meteor engine to keep it in good health but I'm wondering about the reasons for this.

Let me just say, my experience generally (ie not Centurion specific) is either start a vehicle up and run/drive it long enough and at high enough rpm to get it up to temperature, circulate lots of oil, and charge the batteries, or don't run it at all, just bar it or crank it over and keep the batteries charged. I don't like just starting and idling an gasoline engine for a short time (or even a long time) because of fuel and moisture buildup in the cylinders and oil, plug fouling, etc.

So is it necessary to run the Meteor engine regularly and if so, how often and for how long? The tank will be regularly exercised in our spring and summer months but come November, we have a long winter season until May. What are the risks of not running the engine over this period, bearing in mind we will keep the batteries charged and the tank will be indoors with the temperature kept above about 10 deg C?
I've heard piston/ring seizing is a problem. Why is that? Is it rings sticking in the grooves, or rings sticking to the bores?
Thanks,
Malcolm
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Old 16-08-18, 09:57
Lynn Eades Lynn Eades is offline
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Malcolm, I am not the guy to answer your questions, but will say this;
When rings stick in the ring grooves, the engine looses compression or pumps/ burns oil- smokes. It'll still run, and may come right with use. When the rings stick in the bore that's a disaster that usually ends in seizure, or at least engine damage. Two quite different results.
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Old 16-08-18, 21:01
David Herbert David Herbert is offline
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Malcolm,
I think your instincts are spot on. If there are no issues like leaking coolant and a vehicle is kept in a dry and reasonably warm environment (ie. not outside in the UK in winter) running it for a short time and not fully warmed up is likely to cause more problems than were there before. I would expect that the relative humidity in your part of the world in winter is very low so there should be no condensation in the cylinders or anywhere else to cause problems. Rings do not just stick spontaneously, there is always a reason, usually either carbon build up or corrosion.

David
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Old 16-08-18, 23:12
Perry Kitson Perry Kitson is offline
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As David stated above Malcolm, you are right on the money. Running ANY engine for short peroids of time is not good. Again, I am no Meteor expert, but the rules should still apply as to any other gasoline engine. Gas engines have a distinctive disadvavantage when compared to diesel engines. Gas "washes" down the cylinder walls constantly, removing precious lubricating oils. I would think that mothballing the engine for the winter storage time would be better than running the engine occasionally only to bring it up to temperature (where thermal expansion has done its work to bring the pistons to the correct operating clearance), and then shut it down after a short run. I did a simple mothballing on my carrier engine every fall, and never had a lick of trouble with stuck valves (a common flat head problem), pistons or rings in 21 years.
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Old 17-08-18, 02:32
Malcolm Towrie Malcolm Towrie is offline
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What did you do to mothball the engine, Perry?

We have some Meteor engines here in various states of disrepair. I don't know where we got them from. One had the heads removed so I pulled the cylinder block on each bank to see what condition the pistons and rings were in, as at that time we were considering rebuilding an engine. It took a lot of effort to get the blocks, or skirts as they are called in the manual, off. This was b cause, on each block, the rings on one piston had seized in the bore with corrosion. Also, the rings on almost every piston were rusted and stuck solid in the ring grooves. The tops of some of the pistons were pitted with corrosion. Obviously, water had got into the cylinders at some time. Despite that, there was no corrosion damage to any of the sleeve bores and just some very light scoring. I thought they must be hard chrome plated, but apparently they're not. Some exotic Rolls Royce material, I guess. The condition of this engine indicates smaller amounts of moisture will rust the rings into the grooves, and larger amounts will also seize the rings to the bore. Maybe the ring material RR used to match the very hard sleeve bores was prone to corrosion?

Anyway, I think we won't run the engine routinely during the winter, maybe just put some oil in the cylinders and crank the engine over occasionally.

I'll also search some vintage aircraft forums to see if the need to run the engine regularly is legitimate.


Malcolm
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Old 17-08-18, 15:15
Perry Kitson Perry Kitson is offline
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I picked up this method from some old timers in the antique car hobby. I would do an oil change in the fall before putting the machine away for the winter. Then, with the engine"cold", lightly pour 10W oil into the carb as it idled, until it produced a nice smoke cloud for a 5-10 seconds, then shutting down the engine while still adding oil. This gets the oil onto both intake and exhaust valve stems, as well as the top end of the cylinder. Doing this with a cold engine, at an idle, does not give complete combustion, so does not end up with an appreciable carbon build up, as well as having more clearance before things heat up. Of coarse, pulling the plugs and adding some oil to the cylinders is good as well, it does not get oil onto the valves, but this is not a big concern for overhead valve engines.
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