Onan intake valve seat

[Jancoe]

So I have a p216 with a loose intake valve seat on oil filter side. Tractor was bought 3-4 years ago. It's my 4016ps project. First thing I did when I pulled it in the garage was a compression test and oil filer side 50psi. Pulled head and found valve not seated to seat. Pulled valve cover and a little inspection found the seat loose. Stop into our towns engine machine shop. Was told they have done this repair several times. Was told a week I'd have it back. Stop in 4 weeks later and not done. Was told to stop in before the end of week and it would be done. Gave them the benefit of the doubt and just stopped in today end of day which gave them a few extra days and found he dropped it on the ground. Valve not seated all the way.Not properly machined into block. Grabbed it unfinished. Still needed to be machined to valve. Got it home and rough measuring with my dial caliper makes this seat .20 taller than the other side. This seat is sticking past the face of the head surface and the seat isnt in fully pressed into block. Made some calls tonight and talked to a few very knowledgeable men on onans and who are current onan dealers and builder/stores. Lined me up with a machine shop that has done this work on onans for 30 years gonna give them a call in the am and see if this is repairable.

Sent from my SM-S906U using Tapatalk

[Spike188]

Evan, I feel sad for you. It is bad enough that their timline was poor, but thee strikes? It makes me wonder how many other jobs they have botched.

[JSinMO]

Yikes, mark them off the list of any future business. I can feel your frustration. I’ve had a couple of situations where I’ve taken my item off their work bench because of this kind of thing, but I don’t t think my stuff was in worse shape than when I brought it to them! I sure hope it can be repaired. I don’t think I’d be ashamed to sent them the bill for the repair!

[RoamingGnome]

That's really unfortunate - Hopefully the next machine shop can fix their work...

[Gordy]

By the shaved metal between the base of the hole and the vale seat,it looks like they drove it in cockeyed. If that was mine might have shown up.


Gordy

[Eugen]

That's unfortunate Evan, but I truly believe that it can be fixed right. They should certainly not have charged you for this. I would at least talk to them and let them know this is not right. You can also look at it this way: you are spared of a possible engine job done by them, which can't be seen but it's botched, only to have the engine blow later. Everything happens for a reason, is my belief.

[DavidBarkey]

That really sucks Even . Make you ask how they could stay in business with shotty work like that . I have to agree with Gordy .

[Jancoe]

I'm still in awe at what this guy tried to pull. I'm disappointed I let it sit with him this long and continued to let him practice damaging my engine. He denied dropping the engine on the ground. Said he hit it with a hammer. Caught him in multiple lies. Said he did another Intake valve seat on another p series 2 weeks prior to my second "how's my engine going" visit. I took my engine and parts which took a bit to locate. I've never seen a sloppy shop as this. I knew better. So I loaded it in my truck and left. But before I left I gave him my piece of mind. Good news is I found a reliable machine shop in Midland, MI. Central Auto Parts/Auto Value. They are an hour south of me. Guy I spoke with has extensive knowledge of these engines and has performed countless valve seat repairs to onans. Said he will be able to replace the seat and fix what this guy did. I will be sending this guy the bill when I get it repaired from the new machine shop.

Sent from my SM-S906U using Tapatalk

[ssmewing]

I'm still in awe at what this guy tried to pull. I'm disappointed I let it sit with him this long and continued to let him practice damaging my engine. He denied dropping the engine on the ground. Said he hit it with a hammer. Caught him in multiple lies. Said he did another Intake valve seat on another p series 2 weeks prior to my second "how's my engine going" visit. I took my engine and parts which took a bit to locate. I've never seen a sloppy shop as this. I knew better. So I loaded it in my truck and left. But before I left I gave him my piece of mind. Good news is I found a reliable machine shop in Midland, MI. Central Auto Parts/Auto Value. They are an hour south of me. Guy I spoke with has extensive knowledge of these engines and has performed countless valve seat repairs to onans. Said he will be able to replace the seat and fix what this guy did. I will be sending this guy the bill when I get it repaired from the new machine shop.

Sent from my SM-S906U using Tapatalk

The shop you took it to in Midland is my go-to shop. I do not even think about any other shop. I, too, had a 4016 PS-1 with a loose valve seat. Mine was found while I was removing the carbon that was actually holding the seat in place. They did the job for me. He did go slightly over on the depth and almost wrecked the block. I was barely able to set the valve gap. But, the valve seat, when you replace one, has to be much deeper than stock so that you can peen the entire circumference of the seat. You must peen it or weld it it. I think I have used the wrong term. I am still in a brain fog this morning.

They do get the job done, and the turnaround is very close to 5 work days. I take them all my Onan and Kohler engines because of this. I take all the extra time up being I am slow to get things done. I have good reason, sort of. I have struggles to say the least.

I love taking them Kohler engines. The engines are great engines. You can buy the non-Chinese parts for a decent price of around $150, the machining is about $150, and my time on just the engine is about $200. Part of the $200 is I have to drive to Midland twice.

You can experience what a new Kohler is like that does not burn oil and is just a great engine. You have to be really bad if you mess one up, or you cut corners. The cheap parts that are out there are like the bug light we all once had. They draw you in, and then you will be chasing something that is not right, if not from the start, eventually.

Once the rebuild has passed the breaking period, research the oil for this. There is a special oil that has a required additive in the oil. ZDDP? All old engines with valves in the block need this. Some will argue that these engines should use the special oil for life as that was what they were designed to run on. I do not believe that. I run synthetic after about 100 hours.

I do not use my tractors as much now that I do not mow with them. But, I still check the oil. I just never have to add any oil. I change it once it is down about half a pint which is about once a year.

[ssmewing]

I remembered the name of what they needed to do! It is called staking the valve seat.

And, to be properly staked the valve seat has to sit a bit deeper into the block. It is then the block material that gets moved to cover the top edge of the valve seat. Some engines use valve stakes a bone stock engine.

The photo in this post did not have the valve seat deep enough. The machine shop in Midland, MI, Circle Auto, does know how to do this, and that is just their fix for a loose valve seat.