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Help me gather parts for my Onan 316......valve adjustment

2319 Views 6 Replies 4 Participants Last post by  SWIGIN
I am pretty sure that the valves on my Onan p218 in my 316 have never been adjusted. And I was wondering if I have all the gaskets I will need to do the job.

154-2746 Exhaust Gasket B & P Series .... need 2

154-0733 Carb to Intake Gasket B & P Series

154-2495/154-1446/154-2745 Intake Manifold Gasket P & B Series .....need 2

110-3709 Valve Cover Gasket B & P Series .....need 2

This is just because mine is long gone.
122-0502 Oil Filter to Shroud Gasket

And this since mine is cracked.
Onan 123-1429 Crankcase Breather Tube B & P Series

Does that look about right as far as gaskets go?


I might as well seal up the intake while it is off since it does have a slight hunt or surge at idle and it seems like that is the thing to do.

Am I missing anything?


Oh yeah, I almost forgot that I have new firewall heat shield foam for the firewall as well so I guess I'll be pulling the motor.

My p218 runs well and does not smoke at all but when it is hot and you shut it off it is hard to start till it cools down. To me (being an old gear head) it seems like adjusting the valves would be the right place to start.

I am in that space of no grass to mow and no snow yet so I'd like to do this in the next few weeks. Any help would be great!
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Go to know, I wouldn't have known that.

Thank you!
I see people decarbonizing there heads and piston tops on here but I can't see the reason why.

I can't think of any other motor that needs the carbon cleaned out from the combustion chamber as a regular maintenance item.

I'm sure it would lower the compression a tad and maybe help with detonation.

I might need to be talked into this one...lol
Just to finish off this thread I finally got around to adjusting my valves. I know I am a professional procrastinator ..lol

My intakes were basically zero lash and the exhaust was under .005 so I'm sure they were both being held open when hot.

Set the intakes to .005 and the EX to .013, sealed up my intake manifold while it was off and replaced my cracked breather tube.

Man what a difference! I was hoping to help it's not wanting to start when hot problem but it even starts much faster now when cold too.

Oh, my plugs which have been in it since before I got it were never gapped. They still look like new as far and ware and rounding but they were gapped at .045.
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