mmmmmdonuts 274 #1 Posted October 15, 2021 Just wanted to get some thoughts on what I should be doing with my 520H. It was given to me about 2 or 3 years ago with a leaking transmission and a few other issues. I went through the issues and fixed them to get her working again. She is a 1990 and has 2250 hours on the engine at this point. Ever since I got it I have had to add oil each time I mowed and the previous owner told me it was like this for probably the last 5-10 years. It only leaked while running but this summer it seemed to start needing half a pint to pint each time I mowed. This is now my secondary mower as of this year, but I like running it once a month or so to keep things going. Anyways today, after about an hour mowing the oil pressure light came on, and I looked down and oil was everywhere at the bottom of the engine and puddling on the mower deck. I immediately got it back to the garage and shut it off. Checked the oil and there was very little if any left. I haven't looked much at it yet to see if I see anything obvious but I doubt it. I am comfortable working on the tractors but not as much on the engines. I guess my main question at this point is the engine has 2250 hours on it and was already burning oil or pushing it. Is it worth trying to do anything with the Onan or is it getting old and tired. I am considering a possible repower but I am not sure yet what I want to do. I mainly use it for mowing about 4 acres but like I said I have a bigger tractor now for that. Thoughts? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
peter lena 9,252 #2 Posted October 15, 2021 @mmmmmdonuts for a repower you might contact BENS VINTAGE TRACTORS , on this site , he does a very neat honda swap that will bring your horse back to life , checked it out on the recent Colchester CT show , worth a look pete Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
lynnmor 7,813 #3 Posted October 16, 2021 First, you NEVER run any engine with the oil light on, it needs to be shut down immediately! If you see oil then you can see where it is coming from, clean up the engine and watch so you can report back with useful information. Do a compression test and report your findings. An Onan is capable of thousands of hours, but like any other, abuse will cut its life short. Until you find the root cause of the oil issue, it is all a guess, but my guess is the oil filter is wrong. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mmmmmdonuts 274 #4 Posted October 18, 2021 Thank you for the advice. I probably won't get to this anytime until the spring before I can really dive into it and what the damage is. One bad summer for my horses. Two of them are down unfortunately. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
