FE290 Rebuild
 

So I decided to have my 1999 FE290 rebuilt 100% by a certified Club Car dealer in Texas. My motor runs great. I did rebuild the head 100% a few months ago. Now it’s time to have them rebuild the lower unit. The reason I’m rebuilding the lower unit is I burn oil. Power is just fine.

When I took it to the shop they mentioned to me that I had a little knock in the lower unit. Nothing they have never heard before. They mentioned in the end the knock will still be there once the lower unit is rebuilt. Would not cause a problem in the future, just won’t be as quite as it could be.

Any thoughts on this rebuild that could make the quieter?

Re: FE290 Rebuild
 

Maybe I just do things differently, but when I rebuild a motor I replace anything that's worn. I would expect that any dealer would do the same. Maybe their idea of a "full rebuild" is a hone/bore job, some new rings so it stops burning oil and call it a day? (that's not a rebuild, that's a ring job).

Perhaps you should try a different shop and see what they have to say. It may require crankshaft replacement if the crank itself is worn (which is unlikely) but most likely most "knocks" are caused by excessive play in bearings. bearings that should be replaced when any motor is rebuilt whether it's a golf cart, atv, car, or a truck.

Re: FE290 Rebuild
 

There shouldn't be any knocks when it's done. Knocking is excessive clearance, which should be corrected during any true rebuild. You can put rings in the thing yourself, it sounds like that's all they're gonna do.

Knocking can be many things. excessive piston skirt wear, resulting in piston slap. Wear on the counter balance shaft. Wear on the counter balance link rods. Wear in the connecting rod. Wear in the wrist pin. Wear in the camshaft or tappets which lift the pushrods for the valves. Not that all of that will be replaced during the course of a normal rebuild, but all of those clearances should be measured to check for wear, and anything that's worn beyond the normal service limits should be replaced.
Bearings in these hardly ever fail. The main bearings are open cage ball bearings which have very long service life unless the engine has been run completely out of oil.
Wear of the link rod bearings for the balance block are probably the most common reason for a knocking sound since those have the least amount of bearing surface. Those bearings can be replaced on the 290s, and it would be stupid not to. If the dealer doesn't do that, they're setting an engine up for spectacular failure in the not so distant future.

Re: FE290 Rebuild
 

Not trying to hijack this thread, but I just did a rebuild (piston, rings, connecting rod, valves) on an fe290, but didn't touch the counterweight connecting rods. Now I'm getting an unpleasant sound at higher RPM's. It starts to become noticeable about 10 seconds into this video. Just wondering if you guys think this sounds like the link rod bearings.

FE290D Rebuild

Thanks for any input.

Re: FE290 Rebuild
 

Sounds like link rods for counterbalance weight to me.

I'd just remove the weight and the link rods and call it a day. Not have to worry about it possibly blowing through the back of the case if one of the pins let's loose.

Stop running it now until you can fix it or it wont be fixable.

Re: FE290 Rebuild
 

As CP241 states the consequences are dire if those links fail. Brad Porcellato used to have great videos on youtube on the club car engines. BUT now just fork lift training programs. Don't know what happened ?

Re: FE290 Rebuild
 

Yeah, I went back a month or so ago to look for those videos. Nowhere to be found. I wanted to try to figure out that engine stand that would flip from vertical to horizontal so you could access the block from any angle. Anyhow, I had three gas club cars (I say had, because I just acquired another from a cart "junkyard" that I was going to use parts from to build my turf 2, but there's not a whole lot wrong with it so now it's four...) and intend to rebuild each as time and money permit.

As for removing the counterbalance block, I'm totally cool with that. What precautions should I take to prevent six grand and blowing the head off of this thing? I currently have the Rev limiter disabled and the governor zip tied ��... And no, the rebuild wasn't because I've already blown it up, the rebuild is a different engine.
I don't need a bunch of speed out of this one, it'll do around 20 now on 22" tires and that should suffice.

Thanks for any info you can provide