Onan 20hp Toro Wheel Horse

[JR402]

Hello, I have a Onan P220G 20hp with 835 hours in a Wheel Horse 520H which gets a workout running a 60" deck. When I changed the oil last year when I first got the tractor I used Traveller HD30 and an Onan 122-0800 filter that the previous owner gave me. This year I tried a short run (a few hours) with Rotella 15w-40 and a Baldwin BT223 filter, and I noticed right away that the engine sounded alittle louder when fully hot, nothing really awful, but noticeable valve clacking type sounds.
I have now switched to Rotella T5 10w-30 and a Wix 51762 filter and it seems much better for this engine. I believe I'm also seeing better fuel economy. I think the 15w-40 may be a bit too heavy for this application.
Also I'm using Supertech synthetic 10w-30 and a Baldwin BT8301 filter for the transmission. I probably would have used the Rotella in the trans too if I had know that I would end up using the 10w-30 for the engine too.

 

[Slick17601]

My Dad has the same tractor and we've used both HD30 and 15W-40 and haven't really noticed a difference. It doesn't get used nearly as much as it used too since he purchased a JD X540 for mowing a few years ago. The WH is a fine machine and it's ashame Toro did them in.

 

[JTK]

Great engine. One of the coolest sounding horizontally opposed twins in my opinion. They do consume lots of fuel by nature, but last thousands of hours with reasonable care.

On the Case/Ingersoll boards I used to hang out at, the very mention of running anything other than SAE30 in one would just about lead to blows. Pretty funny actually. Good guys, but no oil knowledge what so ever.

It's real important on these Onans that you remove and decarb the cylinder heads every 500-1000hrs. They'll build up so much carbon in the combustion chamber that the pistons can smash against it and lead to all sorts of expensive metal mayhem.

The worst part of doing that job is removing all the cooling shrouding and getting the head bolts out w/out damage.

Joel

 

[Slick17601]

Yeah, I love the sound of the Onan when you get into some deep snow