Has anyone ever heard of "cold galling"?

[bullseye13]

Someone once told me that even though the fuel had the proper oil-gas mix, when starting the chainsaw, and immeadiately nailing it to full throttle and cutting, this can cause what they call "cold galling" or in other words scoring the piston and cylinder. Is this possible??

 

[Reddog]

Never had a problem with air cooled motors.
But with water cooled snowmobiles, you can cold seize them real easy. Piston expands faster than the cylinder.

 

[Bowtie]

In my opinion, its never a good idea to start any engine and go full throttle without it warming up. With the close tolerances of bearings and vital reciprocating assemblies, they need to be close to operating temps before WOT condition. Cold firing and WOT ( Wide Open Throttle ) dont mix. The list of possible engine damage is long, including oiler pump failure in cold conditions. You vets let me know if im wrong about this.

 

[drmiller100]

normally called cold seizing, or 4 corners seize.

the piston expands faster than the cylinder.

for sure can happen to 2 strokes. those with forged pistons more likely. those with larger bores more likely. by big bores, I mean 82mm plus.

i haven't heard of it being a big problem with chainsaws though.

 

[mattinky]

Never had a problem with air cooled motors.
But with water cooled snowmobiles, you can cold seize them real easy. Piston expands faster than the cylinder.

The same holds true with liquid cooled dirt bikes.

 

[stihltech]

yep, seen it

Stihl had a problem with it on early 066. One broken in, it seemed to disappear. Cold climate thing.