Piston Ring installation help
 

I'm in the process of replacing the rings in my Gen2 N12 R56 2007 mini cooper (non-turbo). Rings P# 11-25-566-479-BOE

My problem is that I'm not able to get the oil ring (or oil scraper ring) to compress down enough for the piston to drop into the cylinder. I've had replacement rings sent because they appear to be oversized at 3 1/8th inch versus the 3 inch diameter of the cylinder.
When I put the oil ring into the cylinder, just like you do the regular ring to check the gap, it will not fit "level" or it has to sit offset within the cylinder or literally overlapped.

Is the problem with me or the oil ring? I'm using the ratcheting tool with the 3 inch sized compression attachment.

Any help is greatly appreciated as Pelican has been most gracious with sending replacement rings but I feel this is an issue with the factory sending the wrong oil ring with the package for my N12.

Thank you for your time!
Mike

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1503097117.jpg

Hey Mike - to make sure you got the right part please give us a call and ask to speak with Michael Ashcraft 888.280.7799 extension 304.

I was finally able to get the piston to drop into place. Boy what a pain in the butt. Since I could not get the ring compressor to fully collapse the oil ring I had to install in manually. I had to tilt the piston a bit to get one side to hold while manually pushing the oil ring into position. Once the oil ring was completely pushed into the piston and cylinder I was able to use the ring compressor to finish compressing the top two rings and the piston dropped right into place.
Not sure if this will help anyone but I sure would like to know what ring compressor others had used and if they had the same issues that I had with the oil ring.