It would be kinda odd that only one cylinder would loose ring tension if the engine was overheated that bad. I'm thinking the ring may be, gasp, broken. Hope not for your sake Jluck.

I'm the guy who asked about the overheating - my apologies for any confusion caused, I was trying to understand the concept of a "collapsed" ring.

Well, my first post but had to chime in.

Run regular old ATF in it. Pour some in the plug hole and run it in the motor. It will clean anything out.

Just my .02,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

Reminds me of an attempt to remidy a weak cylinder on a crx a few years back. I filled the cylinder with diesel full, let soak a week, sucked it all back out, drove the car for a 3 hour drive on interstate, poured a tablespoon of Seafoam ( i likes my Seafoam   ) into the cylinder, waited a day, drove the 3 hours back still no luck, so I filled the cylinder with ATF and let it soak for a week. In the end I pulled the head to find a valve was bad. But man was that one piston shiney compared to the others.  So I know one at least one of the three (Diesel fuel, Seafoam, ATF) did something (or maybe a combination).  

My trick for sucking fluid out is ....  take a sturdy can like oh maybe an empty Seafoam can ( I told you i likes my Seafoam   ) and duct tape your vacuum cleaner hose to the hole in the top. Then use a nail to punch a hole in the top, used a tapered punch to open the hole just big enough that you can get a hose the size of windshield washer hose to slide in. A tight fit is good. now your little contraption is ready to suck fluid out of the cylinder. Never mind the "small"hose - it will work faster than you might think. Keep it around the garage - it works great for lots of stuff.  

In the end I pulled the head to find a valve was bad

LOL I about choked when I read that, too funny, but shiny pistons are
happy pistons 
 

some day I will Mcgyver a lighted webcam small enough to slip through a spark plug hole to do visual inspections. I'm sure there is something out there you can buy ... but I'm to "thrifty" and then I can repeat the engine torture to find out what made the piston shiney

Ya, it's out there, home depot has a lighted camera on a flex neck for
inspecting inside walls and stuff, not sure if it's small enough to fit in
a plug hole but it's a neat package all in one

Snap-on has one.

The one from HF is just $80 when on sale. Mine works great!!

GOT IT![/font][/b]

it freed up today. after many heating/cooling cycles and a cocktail of atf,seafoam and oil something worked!!

compressions great across the board now I just have to figure out the fueling on #4

http://www.zukiworld.com/forum/technical-discussion-beginner-repair/'01-2-0l-not-getting-fuel-in-4-cyl/

so this thread is dead I guess.

Great news, but good threads never die, they get revived in 5
years by someone having the same/similar problem 

Wild

I was always told that Marvile Mystrey oil was good for that 

Okay... I know this is an old thread that somebody has blown new life into... At any rate Marvel Mystery Oil is a old but good product that I can attest to freeing up more than 1 stuck engine that has been setting. It is a good penatrating oil that we have used in industrial applications on metal items to loosen debrie and to maintain shelf life.

Another great product that I would recommend is (Clickable Link) SEAFOAM   They have many products but manufacture and engine cleaner specifially designed for your problem.

 Good Luck! Tux...

Hey Tux, this thread started on July 25 2011, not that old