Rep Power: 50

Ok. Look at my pistons. I can clearly see the markings. Valves are good. Doesn’t seem to be excessive carbon.

So do I do the rings?

 
Rep Power: 125

Depends on a variety of factors.

If it's an otherwise healthy engine, I would leave it alone.

If there's any notable oil consumption, it may be worth replacing them. Even then, maybe not.

 
Rep Power: 50

Depends on how we define healthy at 161k, but I haven’t had the car long enough to know wether it consumes oil or not. This is my conundrum. I sure don’t want the extra work, but I’ll be ding danged if I gotta crack this open again in the next 50k.

 
Rep Power: 125

I probably would, then. You're already down there.

 
Rep Power: 50

ALSO: there were no guide dowels when I took this head out. I will get two but any idea where they go?

 
Rep Power: 224

They're not stuck to the head?

 
Rep Power: 50

Not on the head nor the block. I’m wondering if the lack of them contributed somewhat to the gasket failure. Misalignment?

 
Rep Power: 222

Definitely could be part of the problem

 
Rep Power: 50

I did not replace the rings on this job. Check my other posts for how it worked out.