s60 2001 piston ring gap needed

godzilla138 · Post by **godzilla138** » 15 Sep 2012, 19:32

Hello,

I am rebuilding my engine after a bad radiator that caused an overheating problem. I am in the process of putting new rings to my pistons and I am unable to find the needed info about the ring gaps, someone that can Give me a hand.

Thanks a lot and I hope I can give some help as well.

Post by **DGM** » 16 Sep 2012, 11:13

This may help.

---------------------------------------------
Piston running clearance (example)
Measured cylinder diameter........ 83.015 mm
Measured piston diameter........ 82.995 mm
The piston running clearance is........ 0.020 mm
The piston running clearance must be 0.010–0.030 mm.

Piston rings

Axial clearance
Upper compression ring........0.030-0.070 mm
Lower compression ring........0.030-0.070 mm
Oil control ring assembly........0.038-0.142 mm

Compression ring dimension
Upper........1,200 -0.010/-0.030 mm
Lower........1,500 -0.010/-0.030 mm

Dimension, three piece oil ring
Spring........1.510 ± 0.020 mm
Rail........0.460 ± 0.011 mm

draser · Post by **draser** » 17 Sep 2012, 05:02

Are you having the cylinders honed? If you replace the original rings the cylinders need properly honed for the new rings to set. Otherwise you'll have oil consumtion issues. Also, the cylinder bore measurement need to be below repair limit to make this worthwhile.

Post by **DavidE7** » 17 Jun 2025, 22:30

Resurrecting a very old thread. I can't find a specification for the correct grit to use when honing the piston bores in a Volvo B5254T2 engine in a 2007 S60 2.5T with 265,500 miles. I plan to use a silicone carbide flex hone "dingeberry" tool. The available grits are 180, 240, and 320. The flex hone grits cut less than the comparable stone grits. The new piston rings are from Goetze and are made for the Volvo engine.

Backstory: I am replacing the head gasket because it is leaking coolant in two cylinders #4 and #5. This engine had the head gasket replaced at 226,661 miles in early 2022 because the PCV banjo bolt check valve lost it guts into cylinder 3. The compression wasn't as high as I had hoped at 171, 169, 160, 163, 171 after the rebuilt junkyard head and head gasket were installed. This time I am planning to replace piston #3 because it has marks from impacting the pin and ball from inside the check valve and may have a very slightly bent connecting rod. Also planning to replace the other 4 sets of piston rings, inspect the connecting rod bearings, verify correct tolerance on all the lifters, and see what 40,000 miles of use did to the beautifully cleaned head and valves from the prior rebuild. I am also curious if the valve clearances changed.

There are quite a few sites with recommendations for grits to use when honing cylinders for new rings. I can't find information that is Volvo specific and I hope somebody has this experience that they can share.

dikidera · Post by **dikidera** » 18 Jun 2025, 03:30

Because there is none. It is my personal belief volvo never intended for these engines to get rehoned, rebored. No specs no nothing.

The closest you can get to actual specs is from the 850 service manual https://www.volvoclub.org.uk/tech/servi ... vin_55.pdf

This service manual also includes deck warpage, which is a critical component missing from VIDA for the newer engines. Piston ring gaps, almost everything.

Post by **vtl** » 18 Jun 2025, 05:29

I used this Flex-Hone 240 grit brush: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B002XUL1F8 + honing oil https://www.amazon.com/dp/B007INQHEU Don't remember where 240 came from, perhaps from Tim Gilles' engine rebuild book. No measurable oil consumption after about 15k miles and 5 years.

Post by **DavidE7** » 18 Jun 2025, 20:11

Thank you for the information! I am ordering the 240 grit Flex-Hone and will report back the results. I forgot to write that I searched through VIDA for this info on all the available 5-cylinder Volvos in the 2014 release. I am surprised the engine information for bearing and piston sizes are stamped on the block and crank. I did find inspection data for head flatness in VIDA under, Information: Product Specifications: Specifications Mechanical: 2:Engine with mountings and equipment: 200 general: General, B5254T2: Specifications Mechanical

: Head Flatness Tolerances.jpg (12.92 KiB) Viewed 1085 times

The piston, bearing, and lots of other engine specifications are in the same location in VIDA.

Post by **abscate** » 19 Jun 2025, 04:08

That’s an impressive family of P2s , David