Typical Failures of Internal Combustion Engine Pistons

The reasons behind the typical failures of internal combustion engine pistons are explained here. Learn about what materials do manufacturers use to cast pistons, What are the uses of pistons, etc.

Manufacturers of automotive have a key objective to ensure the highest possible reliability and durability of the engine and its parts like piston pins. 

What is Piston?

The piston is an element installed in the crankshaft assembly responsible for converting thermal energy into mechanical. The piston head creates a rotary part of the combustion chamber. The piston grooves are designed in a way to hold piston rings that are used for sealing the cylinder working space.

Typical failures of internal combustion engine pistons
Typical failures of internal combustion engine pistons

Uses of Piston

The major use of the piston is to overcome the piston head-space pressure force by using the piston head. This force is transferred to the piston, piston pin through the connecting rod, and to the crankshaft. The piston construction has to-
  • Pass on the heat of the hot piston head to the cooled cylinder walls
  • Guide the piston in the cylinder sleeve
  • Take over the pressure on the cylinder bearing surface
  • Make minimum possible friction losses
  • Ensure low lubricating oil consumption by the engine

What material do manufacturers use to cast pistons?


Manufacturers use a distinct range of materials to cast pistons for automotive internal combustion engines-
  1. Cast iron
  2. Aluminum alloys
  3. Alloy steels
Apart from these materials, manufacturers also use aluminum-silicon and aluminum-copper alloys. Aluminum alloys are unique by good formability during casting and machine cutting. However, there are drawbacks to these alloys, such as a large thermal expansion coefficient, low strength, and low hardness.

Also read:
Cast iron pistons are less manufactured and used. You can see them in low-speed self-ignition engines. They possess good slide properties, retain great mechanical properties at elevated temperatures, and have a small thermal expansion.

Due to high strength indices and low thermal expansion, manufacturers have started making pistons with alloy steels.

Some common reasons behind the failure of the pistons

  • Lower sparking plug heat factor
  • The too lean air-fuel mixture
  • Valve leakage
  • Insufficient valve clearance
  • Glowing piston head, valve, cylinder head, and sparking plug burning leftover
  • Petrol contamination
  • High engine temperature
Engine overheating occurs due to a malfunctioning of the cooling system, faulty cooling system, a faulty water pump, fouling, a broken V-belt, and a faulty system. In air-cooled engines, overheating occurs because of deposits and fouling inside the cylinder.

Cracks occur due to excessive loads, incorrect course of the combustion process, incorrect starting of the cold engine, and using wrong piston pins.

For more details on defects and failures of engine piston pins, you can browse online articles. You can even ask experts here in the comments and wait for their reply.


You may like:
Compression rings are among piston pins used as metal sealers that fit between cylinder walls and pistons in internal combustion engines. Each of the rings fits inside the groove around the piston’s outer diameter.

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