FE290 Loud After Rebuild

[lockman1]

Originally Posted by villebacker

I guess that I will show my ignorance but what is the link arm? Rebuilt my FE290 before and been through the manual a few times and have not heard this term used for any of the parts.

edit... gotta watch the video...

The "link arms" are the counterbalance weight rods! (and the bearings in them)
I thought it was arms on either side of the crankshaft!



I live close enough to Canada... I thought I understood Canadian speak!

[lockman1]

BTW... thanks for the tip Ray!

[Engman69]

Originally Posted by mrlmd

...And the PO has to decide if his time and effort is worth $200 for his rebuild vs. new, and may not solve his problem.

What mrlmd says is pretty close to the root of my thought dilemma. Currently I have about 350 wrapped up in the engine rebuild. With the cost of a second rebuild that puts my engine investment at 1000$.

I can do the work myself for the 200 plus the cost of a new press. And lets face it what guy doesn't need a press in his shop? On the other hand I'm confident the product I get back from PE will exceed my expectations and take only a few weeks at most. With my schedule (and my OCD) it took 14 months to rebuild the CC. I'd like to have it ready before golf season. I'll make a decision once I drop the drive train out of the cart.

[raydhd]

Originally Posted by Engman69

I asked the guys at Porcellato Engineering to take a look at the video. Brad responded and said it's the link arm bearings. I did not rebuild the crank when the engine was apart so the link arms didn't get new bearings. Not a real swift move on my part. Now I'm debating whether to go back into it myself or send it off to the shop in Canada and have them do it.

The two biggest factors for me is my ability to disassemble the crank and the cost of having the work done. 700-800 US (full rebuild, head milled, plus engine dyno). I'm confident I can rebuild the crank but would have to buy a press and the parts. Been wanting a press though...

Bump about engine noise

[Fairtax4me]

I have two 350s making that noise. One sounds exactly like the video, the other is much quieter, but I know it will get louder. Both have lots of metallic in the oil. Read about this issue a few months back while perusing the board here, but haven't heard the sound yet. Now I know what it is! Thanks for the video!

I should have known because when I started at this job I found a 290 on a shelf in the back of the shop I work at with a broken balance rod and chunks scattered through the case. Wasn't sure at the time what the broken part was because the engine was locked up.
Also have two other locked 290s on the shelf. Gotta love poor preventative maintenance!

[raydhd]

Bump on noise

[Engman69]

The link arms are the two rods coming off the crank on either side of the oil pump. They are what drive the pump. Refer to the snippet and they are item 15 in the pic. Sorry for the tardiness of this post. I've been traveling and am just now getting back to playing with the cart. Yeah I know all work and no golf...

[Fairtax4me]

The link rods drive the counter balance weight which moves opposite of the crankshaft throw. The outer link rod is the last in line to get oil supply from the oil pump which leads it to starvation at times and also gets any contaminants that may escape past the oil filter if the filter bypass valve fails. That’s the usual failure of the link rods.

The oil pump is a gerotor type in the rear of the main case, it’s driven by flats on the flywheel side of the crankshaft. It has no connection to the link rods or balance weight.

That’s a long break from a project for sure! Hope it doesn’t take another three years to finish it!

[mrlmd]

When mine made that same noise it was from the driven clutch and the noise disappeared after I replaced the clutch. One of the 3 tabs inside the clutch had broken off and was responsible for the racket. Has there been any resolution to this, have you run the engine without the drive belt on it, have you removed and looked at the clutch before you take the engine apart again?

[Engman69]

Fairtax4me is correct about the counter weight. I've had oil pump on the brain after changing the one in my son's Xterra - quite the pain in the *** - might I add. As for the engine I'm still waffling between sending it to Porcellato or dropping an FE-350 in it. I did see an FE-400 but am unsure if it will fit and what would need to be changed/modified to make it work.

Both clutches were purchased new during the build and are still in good order. I can pretty well hear the noise coming from the bottom end but anything is possible.