One of the callers in this most recent show had a 1984 Ford F150 going through about a quart of oil every 150 miles. Tom and Ray said the car needed a ring job. Just curious. What’s involved when a mechanic does a ring job? Is the engine left in the car, and all the work done by removing the oil…

@GeorgeSanJose there’s no way to do a ring job without removing the pan and head. You have to take measurements and determine what size rings you need. The crank doesn’t absolutely have to come out, but you have protect it from any debris when you’re honing the cylinder walls. The preferable way …

A “ring job” is an out of date term. It was a common job, especially on in line engines from Henry Fords Day until the 60s. Most independent shops did complete ring jobs and polished the valves and there were travelling machinists who did the work at used car lots repairing the engine only as needed…

@RodKnox nobody said it was easy. Like I said, that kind of major work is best done using an engine stand.

There are ways to do a ring job without removing the engine. But it’s a cheap way just to keep the vehicle running until a proper repair can be done. If you need new rings there’s a chance you have cylinder wall scaring. Just replacing the rings won’t cure that problem. Without getting into too muc…

My dad had 88 f150-302. Had oil burning issue. Warranty replaced rings and valve guides. Dealer did it in 2 days. Basically stripped motor down to nothing. Had to completely strip down heads and pull pistons. Must have been a big pile of parts on work bench.

Very few mechanics do ring jobs anymore; it’s usually cheaper to just get a rebuilt engine since ring jobs nearly always mean valve jobs as well and often bearings. The last car I had a ring job done on was a 1957 Plymouth flathead 6 in 1964. That cost me all $75 including having the valves ground…

A cheap ring job is how I got my first car ('65 Mustang with a 170 cid 6) on the road. My sister had blown the #6 piston (nice hole in the middle, wish I had kept it!). I did just as @MikeInNH describes, the car then worked fine for several more years. Burned some oil, and the #6 plug required at…

I should point out one huge difference between ring jobs in the '50s and ring jobs on modern cars…the engine orientation and space around the engine. Okay, that’s two huge differences. The point is that I’m not sure most transversely mounted engines could be done without removal from the vehicle. Al…

I remember back in the late 1940s through the early 1960s, the oil pan could be removed to allow ring replacement on some cars and this couldn’t be done on other cars. I know that on Studebaker 6 cylinder engines from 1947 through 1952 the pan couldn’t be removed without pulling the engine. On the…

How does a mechanic do a ring job?

Maintenance/Repairs

MikeInNH February 6, 2013, 8:07pm 8

Cheap ring jobs are still done. It’s far cheaper and easier to replace a set of rings then replace an engine. But doing it that way is NOT the proper way. A proper ring job requires removing the engine and having the cylinder honed. And doing it that way is very expensive.

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How does a mechanic do a ring job?

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