97 ezgo w/ eh29c

[dakota1205]

Hello;
I'm new to this site, so I have an engine question. Got the Robins EH29C engine in her and she has died. Checked compression on (fan) side and its at about 70 psi, and 0 psi on pto side. So started tearing her down, got the head off it, appears one of the intake valves is worn bad, (pto side) which I'm assuming why i had no compression on that cylinder, so plan on seeing about getting the head redone.
My question is, how can I tell if my pistons need new rings, they look great from the top side, and appear to have no wear on the side walls. Really not wanting to go any further unless instructed to. Also, I was having oil blowing into the carb area (oil puddle laying in breather below carb) from the breather hose, not sure if bad rings will cause this or this would be caused by bad valve seating.

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.
thanks, Randy

[Gearhead1956]

Originally Posted by dakota1205

Hello;
I'm new to this site, so I have an engine question. Got the Robins EH29C engine in her and she has died. Checked compression on (fan) side and its at about 70 psi, and 0 psi on pto side. So started tearing her down, got the head off it, appears one of the intake valves is worn bad, (pto side) which I'm assuming why i had no compression on that cylinder, so plan on seeing about getting the head redone.
My question is, how can I tell if my pistons need new rings, they look great from the top side, and appear to have no wear on the side walls. Really not wanting to go any further unless instructed to. Also, I was having oil blowing into the carb area (oil puddle laying in breather below carb) from the breather hose, not sure if bad rings will cause this or this would be caused by bad valve seating.

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.
thanks, Randy

How did your spark plugs look? any oil on them?
The oil in the air box could be from compression bypassing the rings into the crankcase. No way to know now since you have the head off.
Do you have oil in the intake or exhaust manifold?
The intake valves in these engines are to soft and do wear into the head.

Its a crap- shoot at this point. If it was me I would at leased do the rings and valves.

[dakota1205]

plugs had carbon on them, but no oil.
no oil appeared in the intake or exhaust.
one of the intake valves seemed recessed up past the seat. so are there improved valves now days, or is it an ongoing problem?

when engine was running, you could take off air filter and see oil come out the tube connected to air filter housing, is that normal?

i'm definitely getting a valve job, but just getting input on doing rings also

[Gearhead1956]

Originally Posted by dakota1205

plugs had carbon on them, but no oil.
no oil appeared in the intake or exhaust.
one of the intake valves seemed recessed up past the seat. so are there improved valves now days, or is it an ongoing problem?

when engine was running, you could take off air filter and see oil come out the tube connected to air filter housing, is that normal?

i'm definitely getting a valve job, but just getting input on doing rings also

Don't know if the valve issue has changed. But if you think about it, most of the time the engines are 20 years old or older when this happens :lol

That hose is the engines PCV system, positive crankcase ventilation. so after years of being soaked with oil some may make it to the carb. I can say after rebuilding my engine, I have no oil getting to the air box.
You could take it off the engine (2 bolts) and clean it, may help.

Just doing the valves may buy you some time, but the engine will not perform as new. Its apart, and not much more to do the rings.
You can do the valves yourself, just hand lap them in. Hone the cylinders and install new rings.

[trig123]

I 2nd what Gearhead1956 stated. I assume you have not removed the engine and just want to repair cylinder head.
Crap shoot but you might get lucky. At least you will have a good head if you have to tear it apart again
I actually think I could have got away with doing what you are wanting to do a few months ago but I went ahead and rebuilt the entire engine. It turns out things were not that bad and this was a 16 year old engine. Good luck. Tom

[dakota1205]

ok, i thought i might go ahead and do the rings also, but just wanted another opinion, thanks. guess to do the rings, i have to pull the engine out and put on bench. can you give advise on doing that, looks like there are 4 bolts holding engine in, can you give advise on replacing the rings??

[trig123]

http://products.jacobsen.com/img/manuals/27615-g01.pdf

[Gearhead1956]

If you do take it apart and planning to use the old rods, make sure you mark the rods and caps so you can put it all back in its original location.

[dakota1205]

ok, will do. thanks for the advise

[dakota1205]

oh, one other thing. you recommend just going with the standard rings as long there is no scaring of the walls, or go up to .25 over. whats yall's opinion??