[[email protected]]

Anyone had any experience using Holts Piston Seal? I phoned Holts
to ask - among other things - if it's safe to use on cars with lambda
sensors and catalytic converters. I couldn't get much sense out
of them.

Thanks

Martin

[Dave Plowman (News)]

In article
,
wrote:
Anyone had any experience using Holts Piston Seal? I phoned Holts
to ask - among other things - if it's safe to use on cars with lambda
sensors and catalytic converters. I couldn't get much sense out
of them.

Surely they don't still sell that rubbish?

Bores and pistons these days usually outlast the car. Unless you hole a
piston through a major fault - and piston seal won't do much for that.

Thanks

Martin

--
*I wished the buck stopped here, as I could use a few*

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

[Arfa Daily]

"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote in message
...
In article
,
wrote:
Anyone had any experience using Holts Piston Seal? I phoned Holts
to ask - among other things - if it's safe to use on cars with lambda
sensors and catalytic converters. I couldn't get much sense out
of them.

Surely they don't still sell that rubbish?

Bores and pistons these days usually outlast the car. Unless you hole a
piston through a major fault - and piston seal won't do much for that.

Thanks

Martin

--
*I wished the buck stopped here, as I could use a few*

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.



You know Dave, I once used some on an old Escort Estate that I had. The
compression was so low that it struggled to start at all. After putting in
the piston seal, it was like a new engine, and it lasted for a very long
time until I got rid of the motor. Whether it's still any use with today's
engines though, I wouldn't like to say.

Ask over on

uk.rec.cars.maintenance

There's some good ol' boys on that group who are very knowledgable.

Arfa

[Dave Plowman (News)]

In article ,
Arfa Daily wrote:
You know Dave, I once used some on an old Escort Estate that I had. The
compression was so low that it struggled to start at all. After putting
in the piston seal, it was like a new engine, and it lasted for a very
long time until I got rid of the motor.

I know of plenty who used it in the old days and reported some improvment
on a clapped engine - but never 'like a new engine'. But then those who
used such things didn't normally have much experience of new engines
anyway. ;-)

Whether it's still any use with
today's engines though, I wouldn't like to say.

I also know of plenty who tried it and it didn't work.

Lack of compression can be down to many different things. Used to be often
plain ol' wear and tear on bores or rings - but this is rare these days
due to far better manufacture and oils. And if some gunge applied to the
top of the piston worked so well you'd wonder why they still bother with
rings...

Ask over on

uk.rec.cars.maintenance

There's some good ol' boys on that group who are very knowledgable.

I reckon they'll say the same.

--
*I was once a millionaire but my mom gave away my baseball cards

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

[Roger Mills]

In an earlier contribution to this discussion,
Dave Plowman (News) wrote:


Lack of compression can be down to many different things. Used to be
often plain ol' wear and tear on bores or rings -

And quite often due to burnt out valves - which piston seal wouldn't fix!

ISTR that the trick was to use a compression tester to measure the
compression pressure, and then see if it was improved by squirting oil in
through the plug hole. If it was, it was the pistons/rings which were
leaking - and piston seal might help. If it wasn't, the fault was
elsewhere - probably valves.
--
Cheers,
Roger
______
Email address maintained for newsgroup use only, and not regularly
monitored.. Messages sent to it may not be read for several weeks.
PLEASE REPLY TO NEWSGROUP!

[Spamlet]

"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote in message
...
In article ,
Arfa Daily wrote:
You know Dave, I once used some on an old Escort Estate that I had. The
compression was so low that it struggled to start at all. After putting
in the piston seal, it was like a new engine, and it lasted for a very
long time until I got rid of the motor.

I know of plenty who used it in the old days and reported some improvment
on a clapped engine - but never 'like a new engine'. But then those who
used such things didn't normally have much experience of new engines
anyway. ;-)

Whether it's still any use with
today's engines though, I wouldn't like to say.

I also know of plenty who tried it and it didn't work.

Lack of compression can be down to many different things. Used to be often
plain ol' wear and tear on bores or rings - but this is rare these days
due to far better manufacture and oils. And if some gunge applied to the
top of the piston worked so well you'd wonder why they still bother with
rings...

Ask over on

uk.rec.cars.maintenance

There's some good ol' boys on that group who are very knowledgable.

I reckon they'll say the same.


In them good old days, we wouldn't have trusted this either. But then there
were dozens of little, nut, bolt, ring, piston, bearing, chain, belt etc.
suppliers, crank grinders, head skimmers, even make you your own pistoners,
all over the place; where wise old men in brown 'lab coats' could tell you
the part number of any bit of any engine, size and thread of any nut or
bolt, circlip, o-ring, at a glance, and then go straight to a drawer for a
replacement. Then there were the sand blasters, polishers, platers...

For the price of a bottle of piston seal, a few over sized rings would have
been bought and the ends carefully ground to give the right clearance. Now
of course, only full sets for the entire engine are available, at a price
probably not much less than a new car: and the plated bore will be beyond
redemption anyway.
So it's off to the breaker's yard for replacements. Heck, they've gone too.
All speculative housing now.

Mind you: the engineering is now so much more reliable in the first place
that we can get away with it for phenomenal mileages. Just a shame to have
thrown the baby out with the bathwater somewhat when repairs are eventually
needed.

Now where did I put my adjustable reamer...

S

[The Natural Philosopher]

Spamlet wrote:


Mind you: the engineering is now so much more reliable in the first place
that we can get away with it for phenomenal mileages. Just a shame to have
thrown the baby out with the bathwater somewhat when repairs are eventually
needed.

Now where did I put my adjustable reamer...

S


scrappies still exist. A friend re-engined an old car from a scrappie
engine where his daughter had foolishly run it with no water in it..

[Dave Plowman (News)]

In article ,
The Natural Philosopher wrote:
Spamlet wrote:


Mind you: the engineering is now so much more reliable in the first
place that we can get away with it for phenomenal mileages. Just a
shame to have thrown the baby out with the bathwater somewhat when
repairs are eventually needed.

Now where did I put my adjustable reamer...

scrappies still exist. A friend re-engined an old car from a scrappie
engine where his daughter had foolishly run it with no water in it..

They do - but are nothing like as numerous as once. EU regs on fluids etc
leaking into the soil made it an expensive business to get a licence.

There used to be several quite close to here - all gone.

--
*I love cats...they taste just like chicken.

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

[Grimly Curmudgeon]

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the
drugs began to take hold. I remember saying
something like:

Anyone had any experience using Holts Piston Seal?

It works ok if you're punting a ****e car through an auction. Not that I
did that, but a mate bought one that had it done.
--
Dave
GS850x2 XS650 SE6a

"It's a moron working with power tools.
How much more suspenseful can you get?"
- House

[Spamlet]

"The Natural Philosopher" wrote in message
...
Spamlet wrote:


Mind you: the engineering is now so much more reliable in the first place
that we can get away with it for phenomenal mileages. Just a shame to
have thrown the baby out with the bathwater somewhat when repairs are
eventually needed.

Now where did I put my adjustable reamer...

S
scrappies still exist. A friend re-engined an old car from a scrappie
engine where his daughter had foolishly run it with no water in it..


Which reminds me: I never did get around to experimenting with oils instead
of water, for the cooling. So many many engines have been thrown away just
because the oily bit and the watery bit don't get on when a gasket or o-ring
gives up...

S