why cant they hold up in JD's to those standards, its not the engine, its the application.
Hello Mick
I Mildly disagree here, I feel it is the owner Not the application. The single most Important thing a guy can do to Extend the life span of his Onan is Place John Lang's firewall Insulation Kit. Do you Guy's Think that John Deere would have Placed one to begin with if they were not Critical to the long life of an Onan ? If the firewall Insualtion is Missing on our 318's Most of us are Far Too Lazy to Pull the engine to Place a new one there, I feel the issue with the glue strip's letting the original insualtion Fail as it seemed to fall off of the fire wall of these Tractor's is what Triggered Most Pre-Mature failed engine's in these 316's and 318's. Witha Good Fire wall Insulation package in Place They will Certainly direct all of the blower fin's Cooling air out the front of the Tractor allowing for a Much cooler engine, as most of us have the common sense to Know that Air cooled Engine High heat level's Eventually Kill's the Internal Part's of these air cooled engine think about it ? and if only conventional engine oil is used in these engines it will break down from Thermal Over Load and High engine Heat, I don't care who makes it this happens with High heat period. Another Huge Hinderance is that John Deere has smothered these Onan's Up By Placing the side engine panels' on them,
Think about it Guy's, Miller welder's run forever it seems with the same engine and they do not have any engine side panels on those, they are wide Open to the element's. Dirt & Grass do not help either and most Owner's are far Too Lazy to keep their cooling fin's clear or clean their Belly screens Often enough, most finish Mowing and Put the Tractor to bed being filthy and full of Dirt which Kills an engine over the Long Haul. I wash my Restored 1983-John Deere 318 ever other time that I mow Two acre's of Grass with it, and the belly screen always has dirt and dust built up in it along with the rest of the Tractor. I also Run Pennzoil Platinum full synthetic engine oil and have the Oil filter gasket in Place, these are Very Important thing's In keeping an Onan running Longer that don't Take Much thought. Think about it, These Mowing decks generate a Lot of dirt and dust with the Onan running wide open in most cases that get's sucked Directly into the cooling fin's of the flywheel and sent over the Head cooling fin's as well as get's Driven right into the air breather Fresh air intake tube. Clean the Pre-filter often, Keep the belly screen and cooling fin's clean , as well as the head cooling fin's and Make certain that you have a Good fire wall Insulation package and your Onan will run as long as the Miller welder's do. We as owner's tend to Blame our Onan's for Expiring Early, but given the fact's that I have provided here it is NOT The engine's Fault, it is all on US Not Taking care of our equipment. I laid out a Hard earned $1500.00 for my Onan P-218 when I restored my 1983 John Deere 318 Three Year's ago Therfore I will do everything that I can on my Part to keep it running for the Long Haul. Sorry to be Rude here Guy's but in my eye's there is Not One thing Wrong with these Onan's making the Long Haul it's ALL On the owner's of them being Just Plain LAZY and Not taking Proper Good care of their Onan's....If Ya'll Think about what I said here I am sure you can not disagree with me on this, Buying anything Used is always'a Gamble in Life no matter what it is if the previous Owner was Lazy or Just Simply did Not care Period, Buyer Beware.... Regards, Kurt
