Robin/Subaru 18 hp engine in my Polaris Ranger TM

[Rod in Forfar]

My 2004 TM 2WD has over 1000 hours on it and the maintenance book calls for an overhaul at that point. The carb is causing difficulty in that the high speed part no longer works, though it starts and idles normally. It no longer charges the battery so I have gone put-and-take with the trolling motor battery off my bass boat.

The engine is a Robin EH63, 18 hp twin 650 cc. I think they are detuned to keep the vehicle speed under 24 mph.

Does anybody know of a company which overhauls these engines? Is there a drop-in replacement which will work in the confined space available? Overhaul kit?

The maintenance schedule calls for "de-carbonization" at 500 hours.

Thanks,

Rod in Forfar, Ontario rodcros at gmail.com

 

[Sawyer Rob]

First of all, Robin/Subaru no longer makes those engines, they sold all the tooling ect., most of it went to China. I'm not sure about parts availability?

BUT, I wouldn't overhaul ANY engine, just because it said to in the manual!! IF it's not needing an overhaul, it would be crazy to "fix something that isn't broke!!"

SR

 

[jaydee325]

Agree with SR.

Sounds like the carburetor just needs a good cleaning/overhaul. Depending on carb brand, parts should still be available from any number of on- line carb specialists.

If you really need a engine, be advised you are going to spend upwards of $2500 or more on a reman. A quick Google search found this and others:

Rebuilt & Remanufactured Engines | Fast Shipping | nFLOW

 

[cqaigy2]

I'm not a mechanic, nor particularly mechanical, but that engine is ok to work on for simple things. I had charging issues with my 22 h.p. and doing some searches, found enough info to trouble shoot my charging problem. It turned out to be the voltage regulator, in that a mouse had built a nice home all around it and i think the regulator would over heat and stop working. I cleaned everything up and put it back in and had charging enough to keep the battery up. i did eventually replace the engine because of damage to the bottom end, spun bearing and seized engine, with a higher hp Kohler.

You might want to do searches or a post in the Power-Trac forum. Power-Trac was using Subaru/Robin's engines in them, 25 22 and 18 hp.

I"m not sure what the overhaul in your manual entails, possibly valve check, but it might make sense to trouble shoot the symptoms. Sounds like you have two, not charging battery and not able to run engine above idle. You seemed to have pin pointed the engine issue to the carburetor so you sound pretty capable. Unfortunately, im not a mechanic, so i'd start searching on that carb make and model.