Sad Kohler story

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Originally Posted By: andyd
I think a 1/4 past hand tight is good for filters , drain plugs, plugs, etc. Even less for left handed nuts. The vibration and heat seems to tighten it further.


I have an oil filter on my exmark with a kawasaki FJ180v and if I've had it become loose a couple times over the life so I tighten it on pretty good and it no longer loosens up after 20hrs. Also if I don't clean the dirt off the gasket mating surface then it will seep oil a little. Now I know why it was tighter than [censored] for first time I changed the oil on it, but I still don't put it that tight.
 
Originally Posted By: bchannell
We all know that none of the engines of today are anywhere close to the older models. I miss the old K series Kohlers, and Briggs Vanguards, but times change. I've heard, and seen, a lot of bad things about the new Kohler Courage series, to the point that, I wouldn't say I won't own one, but they wouldn't be my first choice. My neighbor has a Husqvarna tractor, one of the Lowe's specials with a Courage 26hp in it. It runs pretty good, but has had some minor problems.. Then one day he changed the oil and everything went wrong. You see, my neighbor is 6'6" and 350+ pounds and doesn't understand his strength. He tightens everything way, waaaaaaaaay beyond their limits, which over the years, has caused him many problems. But this time, it cost him around $800 and many hours of work. He tightened the oil filter on the Kohler too tight. Inside the new Kohlers are two oil pipes, one going into the filter and one going out. The center pipe for the oil filter is plain old iron pipe, and the oil filter mount simply threads onto the pipe, and butts agains a raised aluminum molded boss on the block. The other pipe, inside the engine is plastic, and obviously off center. He tightened the filter so hard, that he unknowingly broke the boss off the block, and twisted the plastic pipe inside til it broke, hence no oil flow. If you're like me, it's this kind of design, that makes Kohler no longer my first choice in engines. But, would you believe they're not as bad as you think? He was able to mow, FOR WEEKS, with almost zero oil flow, and no overheating, and he mows close to 2 acres of hilly ground. Now get the picture, a tractor with little or now oil flow, because the oil pick up line is broken and the oil pump is sucking air, mowing tall grass carrying a 300+ pound man, in hot summer weather and it took probably a month or more to blow up. So, I've got to say, they can't be all bad. When it did go, the cam looked ok, but the crank bearing surfaces were gone, and I do mean gone. The block was toasted at the crank bearing surfaces too. We bought a new short block and put it back together, and it's now happily running along.

The moral of the story is, that these new engines may not be as robust as in the past, that's for sure. Economy of manufacture has made them to be just as cost effective as can barely get by and still do their job, and then only if taken very good care of. But properly cared for and a bit of common sense, and they will do their job. I'm still not a fan of plastic cams and I'd love to see the return of, at least, cast iron sleeves, if not blocks, but they're gone, and they're not coming back, but the new engines aren't quite as bad as we make them out to be. I'll still take and old K series, or even a magnum, over what's out there today, but no such luck.


Wow I didn't know they were getting so cheap that they drop the cast iron sleeves. They only last about 500hrs without them. After that they lose compression and don't have enough power.
 
Some quality engines have nikasil or similar coating on cylinders that actually outperform cast iron, particularly heat dissipation.

Back in the 80's I bought a new BMW R100RS, 1000 cc motorcycle that had coated/plated cylinders. Accordingly, if it's good enough for a high end motorcycle engine, it should be fine in a utility engine.

Problem is that most non-cast iron sleeved small engines aren't coated with anything nearly as durable as nikasil.
 
You bring up a good point that I had forgotten about. I did think that Nikasil was mostly used in 2 cycle engines, like chainsaws and such, but it makes sense that larger engines would use it too. I just never saw anyone promoting it in bigger engines.
 
Originally Posted By: bchannell
You bring up a good point that I had forgotten about. I did think that Nikasil was mostly used in 2 cycle engines, like chainsaws and such, but it makes sense that larger engines would use it too. I just never saw anyone promoting it in bigger engines.


Most modern engines have plated cylinders... can't speak to OPE. But the cylinders last a LONG time, sometimes even a piston/ring change.
 
The bad thing about plating is that you can't hone it when you re ring it and if it needs bored out it will have to be replated.

I don't think plating is that big of deal. Plenty of briggs aluminum bores lasted a long time.
 
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I can't believe so many people read bchannel's, original post and seemingly missed his primary point.

Let me see if I got it right: True, they don't make 'em like they used to, but today's engines will still survive a tremendous amount of neglect/abuse before they give up.

As for cylinder bores, that's another reason I use some form of top-oil in 25% to 50% of the hours my OPE run.
 
Originally Posted By: jhellwig
The bad thing about plating is that you can't hone it when you re ring it and if it needs bored out it will have to be replated.

I don't think plating is that big of deal. Plenty of briggs aluminum bores lasted a long time.


Yes, but generally you don't need to... I've seen many plated cylinders (mostly automotive and MC) with high miles needing new piston/rings and the cylinder still has the original crosshatch. Clean it up with a scotchbrite, put in new piston rings and rock on for many more miles.

Cast iron bores are good in that they can be refinished relatively cheaply... but they are terrible for wear.
 
There are two series of Kohler Courage engines out there:

V-twins and single cylinders.

The Courage V-Twin engines are generally reliable if properly maintained.

The Courage single cylinder engine however is a different animal.
The counter-balance assembly is poorly engineered regarding its anchor pivot point.
Given proper maintenance the single will still be a short-lived proposition in many cases.
Mine knocked badly the last hundred hours or so of its less than four hundred hour life.
 
My Craftsman ZTR with twin Courage 26HP Kohler is now 7 years old and has just under 300 hours on it. I use AMSOIL 4 stroke 30w oil and change it every other year. It's never needed any topping off, always amber color when changed. We average about 35-40 hours a year on it.
I recently ran up a ditch edge too far and the mower came up and over, mowing the clouds, luckily the seat safety switch pulled out and stopped the engine. I got a bruised rib from the arm rest and a slight bang to the back of my head when I hit the ground but mostly bruised pride for doing something stupid, Im lucky.
Anyway, the mower ended up on its side with oil dripping out of the engine breather or carb, all over the deck and frame. It took about 30 min. for me to get back to the house and get the Mrs. to help me upright the mower with my Tahoe. I let it sit for 10 minutes and then it started right up but smoked like a stove pipe all the way back to the garage. I let it sit overnight, then cleaned the whole mower and checked the dipstick, no oil showing on it... so I topped it off with about a full quart and started mowing to test it out...the smoke cleared up in about 10 minutes and its been running just fine since July 3rd. We mow about 5 acres, takes about 5 hours, its always started and runs smooth. Replaced plugs just once for giggles. Its been a great engine for our needs.
smile.gif
 
Originally Posted By: jhellwig
The bad thing about plating is that you can't hone it when you re ring it and if it needs bored out it will have to be replated.

I don't think plating is that big of deal. Plenty of briggs aluminum bores lasted a long time.
You won't find cast iron liners in many Benz alloy blocks. Or Porsche, either.
 
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