Onan govenor

greenb6901

greenb6901

Tractorologist
Member
Working on the Onan the other day and somehow managed to pull up on the govenor linkage. It came up about a 1/4 of an inch. but it won't go back down. Is this a case of having to open the engine now. Will it work okay like this? Haven't gotten around to setting the govenor yet but on the list for today.
Thanks
 
Wow, never had that happen and I'd be afraid to run it without knowing.
 
There should be no reason to have to remove the cover. All the governor does by using centrifical motion is push on the arm. If you take the arm and turn it clockwise it will pull the fork away from and should allow you to get it to sit back in. IF you take the cover off make sure you get the alignment pin in correctly , it needs to set in one of those 3 holes on the cover. Don't worry you can push pull wiggle and giggle the arm nothing will fall loose, just don't force nothing. 20180203_205241.jpg
 
DadSleeper said:
There should be no reason to have to remove the cover. All the governor does by using centrifical motion is push on the arm. If you take the arm and turn it clockwise it will pull the fork away from and should allow you to get it to sit back in. IF you take the cover off make sure you get the alignment pin in correctly , it needs to set in one of those 3 holes on the cover. Don't worry you can push pull wiggle and giggle the arm nothing will fall loose, just don't force nothing. View attachment 3037
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Glad to see that pic. I have one to put back together that I didn't take apart. Has a new govenor, rings and rods. Full gasket set, just no bolts!
 
I am looking at my Clymer book and from the pictures, I don't see how it could slip past the pin on the cam but it could be something at the bottom of the shaft. I know that guys have run them without govenors but then you are always playing with the throttle and I don't need that.
 
Just swiped a photo off ebay to show you the fork, this is what is inside ...I am thinking that your cam pin and the fork are meeting. If you can lay the engine back or wiggle it till it seats you will be ok.gov.jpg
 
Did as you suggested and got it back in place. Ran a compression test and one cylinder reads 90 and slowly leaks down and the other reads 70 but leaks down fairly quick. I pulled the head on the low side and the cylinder walls are really nice with no ring groove. Valves are crusty so I will clean and lap them along with adjustment. Doesn't smoke bad when running so going to let it run for a while and see if the rings free up.
This thing fires right up and sits and runs but you can tell it is not 100 percent.
 
Okay. Ran the engine for about 45 minutes and it never did completely smooth out and it has some serious blow-by. It was seeping oil from every cover on the engine and even from around the governor shaft. I would say it needs a rebuild. At this point going to way my options.
 
I'd put a little MMO in the oil and gas and see if it doesn't help! If the rings are stuck, that should help loosen them up!
 
Texas Horses Hogs and Deeres said:
Can you tell if the rings are just wore out or stuck? It may just need new rings and check the valve guides for wear. Did it sit a long time not running? If so I bet most of the seals are dry rotted and cracked including the valve stem seals.
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I don't see any wear in the cylinders and I didn't get much info. on the engine when I got it but I would say that it sat for a while.
 
Put some mmo in both the gas and the oiland ran the engine for about half an hour. Compression came up on the low cylinder a little and now it leaks down slower. Hopefully running it more will continue to improve it. Also found that someone had put a wad of screen in the crankcase vent hole and when I took it out the oil stopped leaking out everywhere. I suspect that the low cylinder sat at the bottom of the bore for some time and stuck the rings.
 
It nmay take a while, but MMO can sometimes break those rings back loose!
 
greenb6901 said:
Put some mmo in both the gas and the oiland ran the engine for about half an hour. Compression came up on the low cylinder a little and now it leaks down slower. Hopefully running it more will continue to improve it. Also found that someone had put a wad of screen in the crankcase vent hole and when I took it out the oil stopped leaking out everywhere. I suspect that the low cylinder sat at the bottom of the bore for some time and stuck the rings.
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Valves are common to carbon up on these and can hold the valve/s open, you can try running a sea foam treatment by just getting the engine nice and hot and then pouring it into the body of the carburetor while its running. Try to pour slow so that you don't stall the engine, but enough so that you can hear it chugging. It will smoke like crazy while you do it, but seafoam is great of getting that carbon cleaned up with out tearing the engine apart.
 
Thanks everyone. You have given excellent suggestions. I did the mmo and the Sea foam and the more that I run it the better it runs. When I first started it it runs real smooth and then it gets kind of a chug to it. I am going to clean the carb again and reset everything and see if that does it.
 
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