piston access for cleaning

[mendozer]

My heads are at the machine shop for a rebuild. I'm cleaning the block mating surface for the new head gasket and I thought...is it worth it to remove the pistons and clean them thoroughly? If so how would I even do that? I could remove the oil pain but can the pistons be accessed easily there?

And the bigger question is...is it worth it? Carbon will build up 100 miles after assembly anyways.

 

[MaineRunna]

My heads are at the machine shop for a rebuild. I'm cleaning the block mating surface for the new head gasket and I thought...is it worth it to remove the pistons and clean them thoroughly? If so how would I even do that? I could remove the oil pain but can the pistons be accessed easily there?

And the bigger question is...is it worth it? Carbon will build up 100 miles after assembly anyways.

Just leave them. Removing the pistons with the engine still in the vehicle is a lot of work. Clean the carbon off with carb cleaner or brake clean.

 

[3bears]

agree with above, if you did not have a compression problem related to the rings and you beleive your bottom end is solid, I would not mess with it. It would be a lot of work with the engine still in rig...and if you do, then you should prob do rod bearings....then...then .....then....then...
could turn into a can of worms

 

[mendozer]

I had compression loss due to exhaust valves being cracked. And I suppose head gasket leak between the two cylinders.
No loss through the pcv or dipstick to indicate rings
Good. Thanks that makes my life easier. I'm probably going to get a ton of stuff in the block from cleaning so I plan on flushing all coolant and oil channels with brake clean and compressed air

 

[19963.4lsr5]

Use a paint scraper or wire wheel and a drill. Don’t spray brake and carb cleaner in holes in the block

Keep an old head bolt or buy a tap to clean the headbolt threads before you install the new heads.


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[Bad Luck]

My heads are at the machine shop for a rebuild. I'm cleaning the block mating surface for the new head gasket and I thought...is it worth it to remove the pistons and clean them thoroughly? If so how would I even do that? I could remove the oil pain but can the pistons be accessed easily there?

And the bigger question is...is it worth it? Carbon will build up 100 miles after assembly anyways.

It sounds to me that you already have the heads off the engine. If that's the case then the main part of the piston that has carbon buildup is the face (what you see of the piston when you look down the cylinder). You can scrape it or get a green scrub pad and try and scrub it off, but it's not going to be a noticeable help for your engine performance. If you want to remove the pistons, then you would have to drop the oil pan, undo the rod bolts/nuts, then push the piston out through the top of the cylinder. Make note of orientation and cylinder number of the piston and rod caps/bearings.

 

[Twisted Sid]

If you must clean them off, the green scrub pad and carb cleaner with the piston all the way up is what I would do. I wouldn't do a drill with a wire wheel or a wire brush because I wouldn't want a stray wire to end up in a cylinder or between a piston and cylinder wall. After cleaning, I'd also put some new oil on a paper towel and wipe down the cylinder walls so they are not dry

 

[mendozer]

When I mentioned the cleaner I was talking about the fact that particles are going to fall into the coolant channels no matter how diligent I am. I have those 3m roloc brushes and the very fine (red and gray) scour pads as these seem to be highly recommended even my OEM for cleaning decks.

as for the bolts, I do have all the old bolts but I'm not understanding how that's going to clean threads for me. Compressed air into the holes before reassembly was what I was going to do.

If I drop the oil pan anyways to thoroughly clean out the block, maybe I don't need to spray cleaner in the channels, just compressed air. Correct me if I'm wrong, but if I drain coolant from the block, and have the oil pan out, then all those little holes on the block surface where crud can fall will be able to be sprayed out (like with air instead of cleaner)...right? I mean there are coolant holes, oil holes, and bolt holes. What else is there?