FE350 Failure

[Ewelder76]

I wanted to post some pictures of the tear down that we did recently on an FE350AS11 from a 2000 CarryAll Turf II. If the hour meter can be trusted on the cart, the engine had about 1100 hrs on it prior to failure.

The engine ran when we received the Turf II (started and operated normally) with the exception that it had a ticking sound that fluctuated with engine RPM. We were in the process of determining if it was indeed the engine or if it was the drive clutch when a complete lock up occurred and stopped the engine in its tracks. It became quickly obvious in the tear down that this wasn't a small issue.

It appears that it suffered a catastrophic failure in the area of the counter weight shaft. I wondered if anyone else has had issues like this with these engines. Would this likely occur due to a manufacturing defect or is it possible that some abuse or maintenance deficiency from the previous owner could cause this? We've generally had pretty good luck with these FE series Kawasakis so we were somewhat surprised to have a failure like this occur.

I'm really left wondering if the block can be repaired or if its completely shot. The rest of the engine (head, crank, cam, etc.) seems in too good of shape to scrap.

Ewelder

[Fairtax4me]

Hard to say what could have caused it. Did the pin that holds the link rod on the balance weight break?
Those aluminum link rods are a weak point on these. And because they're aluminum they have to be matched exactly to the crank when the crank is manufactured. You can't buy the aluminum rods by themselves. I can almost guarantee those rods are damaged enough to make the crank worthless.

[Ewelder76]

Thanks for the feedback.

Yes, the pin did break. It dropped out when we pulled the crankcase cover off. I wasn't familiar enough with these specific engines when we tore it down to understand how the pin was secured in the engine. It sounds like this engine is a paperweight now.

[Fairtax4me]

Kinda looks familiar doesn't it? This ones been in the back of the shop for I don't even know how long.

The part of the rod still attached to the crank has a ton of play in it. The outer rod is the last stop on the oil pressure supply, so it gets the most wear. Once it starts to wear the motion of the rods is unbalanced, and the rod basically hammers the pin up/down as the crank turns. And that causes the pin to wiggle loose or eventually break.

[raydhd]

Originally Posted by Fairtax4me

Hard to say what could have caused it. Did the pin that holds the link rod on the balance weight break?
Those aluminum link rods are a weak point on these. And because they're aluminum they have to be matched exactly to the crank when the crank is manufactured. You can't buy the aluminum rods by themselves. I can almost guarantee those rods are damaged enough to make the crank worthless.

It seems many times newbies rebuild these engines completely unaware for the crank links and destruction of the engine soon follows.

[Ewelder76]

Originally Posted by Fairtax4me

Kinda looks familiar doesn't it? This ones been in the back of the shop for I don't even know how long.

The part of the rod still attached to the crank has a ton of play in it. The outer rod is the last stop on the oil pressure supply, so it gets the most wear. Once it starts to wear the motion of the rods is unbalanced, and the rod basically hammers the pin up/down as the crank turns. And that causes the pin to wiggle loose or eventually break.

Yep, that picture definitely looks familiar. And your explanation makes perfect sense. It would appear that the failure on this specific motor is exactly how you mention.

[Fairtax4me]

Just a guess, based on having another 350 apart and seeing the wear marks and scoring on the crankshaft and the rod. Not sure if its always a starvation issue. It could be that dirt collects in the end of the pressure galley at the supply port for that rod. I had some pics of the rod and crank somewhere, I'll see if I can find them and post them.