Diesel engines have been part of people’s lives for such a long time. It was first used for labor-intensive tasks, such as manufacturing and agriculture, when first invented in the late 1800s. This specific machinery is still used for heavy-duty chores, but it has also been an integral part of the modern transportation industry.
These days, more and more truck manufacturers are offering diesel engines, and more vehicle owners prefer them over gasoline engines due to various benefits. Diesel engines have a much better fuel economy and durability than their gasoline counterparts.
Aside from the two mentioned advantages, diesel engines also have lesser components than gasoline engines which means maintenance would be much easier. But despite having the upper hand in requiring fewer maintenance services, you should remember that diesel engine parts still need to be checked regularly, especially the piston rings.
A piston ring is a metallic split ring attached to an internal combustion engine piston’s outer diameter. The diesel piston system consists of multiple piston rings: compression, wiper, and oil control. Each of these rings has different functions.
The compression ring is responsible for sealing the inside of the combustion chamber and maintaining its airtightness. This is done to prevent gas leakage, which might only cause problems in fuel consumption and exhaust gases.
The next one is the wiper ring. Its primary purpose is to stop excess gas that might have penetrated the compression ring from leaking into the other piston parts. As its name suggests, this ring has a taper angle face that helps wipe the gas when the piston moves to the crankshaft.
Lastly, the oil control ring controls the oil that passes through the cylinder walls. This ring ensures that only a minimal amount of oil can enter the chamber oils and prevent the fuel from entering the combustion chamber.
Your truck’s diesel power performance depends on many factors, and the piston rings are one of those. Suppose there are any issues with your piston rings. In that case, it is more likely that you would encounter several problems such as unusual high oil consumption, decreased acceleration rate, excessive exhaust smoke, oil in the air intake, and weak truck performance.
To avoid all these problems, it is essential to know what are the things that can cause these to happen. By being aware of those causes, you will know what to do and how you can avoid them. And you can read all of that information in this infographic created by Pure Diesel Power.
