The Onan Blues

[23 Reo 229]

Bought my first Onan, a 416 with the P216. I am going through it before it runs. I took the carb off and cleaned it and put everthing back together. Only one problem. When I reinstalled the throttle linkage the carb butterfly is pinned at full throttle. The throttle controle is unresponsive. I did not loosen the throttle cable adjustment until after I noticed that the throttle was pinned. Is this what they call the Onan blues?

Any advise.

[Achto 29,390]

The butterfly will be held wide open by the governor until the engine starts. No matter where you set the throttle.  As long as you can move the butterfly open & closed freely by moving the governor by hand you should be OK,

Edited July 8, 2022 by Achto

[WHX?? 51,732]

Onan blues are when she pops a valve seat ... sounds like you just may not have the linkage set as should. I take pics of how is was before I took apart. Still may not be right but gives me a starting point. 

[johnnymag3 2,568]

Great name for a Band.....    The Onan Blues

[23 Reo 229]

Thank you, Dave

[lynnmor 7,813]

Looks like you have the linkage in the wrong bend, see photo for the correct position.

 

[WHX?? 51,732]

11 hours ago, johnnymag3 said:

Great name for a Band.....    The Onan Blues

Pop a valve seat it's the Monan Blues....

[23 Reo 229]

Thank you.

[WheelHorse520H 708]

On 7/7/2022 at 9:43 PM, WHX?? said:

Onan blues are when she pops a valve seat ...

Oh, I thought it was the little bit of smoke when you start it on a cold morning

[lynnmor 7,813]

5 hours ago, WheelHorse520H said:

Oh, I thought it was the little bit of smoke when you start it on a cold morning

That is an Onan feature, it automatically oils the the valve guides and cylinder walls overnight to get ready for a hard days work in the morning.  Just so you know, any engine with horizontal cylinders will have that feature, it is the vertical cylinder models that aren't ready to work till they are run up to a speed that will slosh oil all over the innards.

[WheelHorse520H 708]

3 hours ago, lynnmor said:

That is an Onan feature, it automatically oils the the valve guides and cylinder walls overnight to get ready for a hard days work in the morning.  Just so you know, any engine with horizontal cylinders will have that feature, it is the vertical cylinder models that aren't ready to work till they are run up to a speed that will slosh oil all over the innards.

Actually, or are you making a joke that is going right over my head? I thought it was because mine are just under 700 hours and oil slipped past the rings when it sat.

[lynnmor 7,813]

58 minutes ago, WheelHorse520H said:

Actually, or are you making a joke that is going right over my head? I thought it was because mine are just under 700 hours and oil slipped past the rings when it sat.

 

There is a touch of humor in my statement.  With a horizontal piston and valves gravity doesn't remove oil from the ring area of the piston and some of that oil will seep into the combustion chamber causing a bit of smoke at startup.  A bit of oil burning is perfectly normal, if it doesn't clear up in a minute, start worrying.

[WheelHorse520H 708]

1 hour ago, lynnmor said:

 

There is a touch of humor in my statement.  With a horizontal piston and valves gravity doesn't remove oil from the ring area of the piston and some of that oil will seep into the combustion chamber causing a bit of smoke at startup.  A bit of oil burning is perfectly normal, if it doesn't clear up in a minute, start worrying.

Ok, glad we cleared that up. Just a little puff for now when it starts.

[Handy Don 14,054]

Just now, WheelHorse520H said:

Ok, glad we cleared that up. Just a little puff for now when it starts.

If I've needed full choke with a sluggish start, even on a Kohler, I'll sometimes see a brief puff of black smoke from partially burned fuel. No worries if it clears when the choke is off.