Here's the deal. Kids were riding the LT on a regular basis and everything seemed ok. Went to ride one day and it wouldn't start. Basically had no compression. Pulled the cylinder and the rings were stuck. I figured it was old enough and a good time for a rebuild. Had the cylinder bored and purchased a new Wiseco piston. Removed the oil tank and went to pre-mix at 32:1 with Klotz racing oil. Got it back together, fired right up and put a little break-in time on it. Turned the kids loose on it. Ran fine for a few weeks... parked it, went to ride it and it wouldn't start again. Pulled the head and the piston rings were stuck again. Piston was pretty black with what looks carbon and it will flake off if you pick at it. I did put a new bearing in the top end of the rod when I overhauled it. I did notice there is some play in the rod still. Does anybody know what is going on?

Jeff

 

sounds like too much oil in the mix, but not completely sure, as I would think that you would foul a plug out before you got the rings stuck. I would have thought that the new rings would have been properly gapped, but I would double check it.

Oh were any of your ring gaps lined up?

 

Usually the weisco's stick and it messes up the ring area. Weisco's need a .035 clearance min. Did you remove the cylinder or just the head?
32:1 is fine (it's what I recommend).
The rod usually moves side to side a lil. If it gets exsesive, then the rod will be loose (up and down play). I don't think it's causing you problem.
If your bore is .5 or 1.0 I'd get a zuki piston.
The black flaking is normal.

 

Oops, I did removed the cylinder. Kinda hard to get the piston out by just taking off the head eh? I'll check the up and down play in a little bit. The thing that has me kinda confused is the fact that it did it on the stock bore with the original piston, then again after the overhaul and the new piston. I did removed the oil injection but left the lines hooked up, is this an issue? I don't think it caused this problem, cause it was all functional the first time the rings stuck.

Jeff

 

Could you have gotten the rings in upside down?