Can you tell by looking at rings if they are bad or not?

 

Yes, but it takes a practiced eye.

 

Im going to replace anyway but is there anything i can look for? They look fine

 

Yeah, I thought so too until a high end machinist schooled me on the subject.

His first criticism was the ring selection. The rings were moly coated, which is inappropriate for a big power turbo car that needs DLC or titanium nitrided rings. He pointed out how the black (moly) had been worn halfway up from the bottom side of the ring face (that seats against the wall) which was unacceptable for an engine that had seen 8K miles, whether or not we were spinning it at 9500 rpms. He also pointed out a couple of tiny spots where the moly had blown away on the ring face which causes blowby and more of the adjacent moly coat to chip away - which is why you aren't supposed to use moly rings on a big power car. Further, the second ring was not a napier design, ie inappropriate, and he also asked me a lot of questions on cylinder finish that I couldn't answer.

So, yeah, do you feel like you know enough to visually inspect your rings and know what you're looking at? I'm a decently bright guy, I got fifteen minutes of a master machinist's time complete with a visual aid, and I sure don't know half what I'd like to.

How about you glaze break your block and install the new rings?

 

they are being replaced but was just curious as to what to look for.. thanks for the reply

 

I wish I had a one million megapixel camera and more knowledge, I'd do a write up for you. :/

 

i appreciate what you said, was just curious if there were some obvious things to look for