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Yeah, Force 3,4 and 5 cylinder engines did eat rings all the time. I don’t recall that it was always one particular cylinder, though….That was around the time that OMC cross flow V engines were eating them, too. Their top rings had a “pressure back” or triangular design. What ever the reason that they let go, If you had an OMC piston on one side of the room and a Force piston on the other side of the room, you couldn’t tell the difference. It was like they came from the same vendor or something. (I’m talking about regular OMC pressure back rings, here, NOT the OMC high ring pistons, which were even worse.) If the power head in question is from a conventional outboard, I would junk it. If it’s in a Sport Jet, those are pretty unique and I would try to save it with another power head.
Long live American manufacturing!