I decided to keep my 4runner to build into a toy. I took the engine out to rubuild it and when I took the oil pan off there was alot of metal shavings and the bearings were all worn badly... So I bought another shortblock from a junkyard. My question is this, I can move the pistons around inside the cylinder just a little... Is this normal? They all move about the same. The engine has been rebuilt recently. It has .75 on the pistons "which are really clean" and .10 on the bearings which all have very little wear. I can see the hoaning cuts in the cylinder walls. And its out of a 94 truck that had 89k on the odometer.

Thanks

 

they really shouldn't be movable. if you're rebuilding em you should get a micrometer, and measure and make sure the pistons are in spec as well as the cylinder bore, in both directions, and also the crankshaft journals, etc

 

I'm was thiinking about just running it as is... good idea? What it looks like to me is the piston moving around on the rings... Its a very little amount and I have to push them hard to make them move. Just wondering if anyone else has ever seen this before?

 

Very little movement is normal. The pistons expand when hot and will get slightly tighter.

 

Thats what I was thinking. Thanks again

 

Too much and you get piston slap, check the manufacturer's specs from the FSM link at the top of the page.

 

If its just a tiny bit and just the rings it may be ok, it just sounded from the first post like it was moving easily

 

Thanks for the answers.

 

as far as i knew they move as the motor is running they go up and down how far do yours go?


ok im sorry but yeah i have 190k and rebuilt mine about a month later it got cold out and boy it sounded like a chick fit with all the piston slapin i had! so yeah if its very little and not bad or you gotta try realy hard do move them its should be ok