Oil For Kohler Courage

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What would be a good oil for a Kohler Courage 19 horsepower single cylinder engine with plastic camshaft gears and solid push rods? The engine has the overhead cam design and full pressure oil system.

This is a 2007 model mower with a pretty much unknown history.It is possible that it was fed non detergent oil for a few years.

It calls for an SJ 10W-30 or straight SJ 30 oil.I was thinking of using Mobil in it.

Any ideas?

Thanks
 
I have a Kohler 21 hp Courage engine in my 04 Craftsman mower and I use Rotella 15-40 in mine. Gets pretty hot in the summer when mowing two acres of grass for hours at a time.

Only problem I have had with that mower, other than normal wear items, is the fuel pump and starter solenoid.
 
I used 15w40 in my Courage 20 per Cub Cadet's recommendation. That was the V-twin though. Different animal than the Courage single. Regardless, any heavy-duty, diesel, motorcycle or aircooled engine oil in a 30 or 40wt range would be my choice.

Joel
 
Thanks guys.

I was worried about the two solid pushrods in the motor along with the plastic/phenolic teeth on the two camshafts.

I was thinking that the oil may need to be higher in zinc than many of the newer oils have now since the pushrods are solid and seem to ride on the camshaft without any type of lifter between the cam and pushrod.

In a car,that can lead to failure and I was wanting to make sure that the mower engine got the oil it needed.
 
Just use KOHLER 10-30 and call it good.
We use this oil in almost every commercial & homeowner unit that comes through our shop. Kohler did good with this oil and has it blended to withstand some pretty harsh environments Specifically Commercial use where the engines regularly see 50+ hours of run time per week..

The solid pushrods are pretty much standard for Kohler and require no special attention nor concern. While most Kohler engines run a metal cam, almost all of them run a plastic oil pump drive and governor gear. I have NO clue what the material is made of but it's [censored] durable, while we do governor assy's on Kohlers from time to time (they come apart) I've NEVER seen a bad Pump Drive Gear..

I've seen a LOT of Blown Up engines this year and all but one I attribute to the Owners lack of proper maintenance and OCI's..
IMHO the oil type is much less important/critical then a good maintenance schedule and proper OCI's.

BTW, anyone reading this DO NOT "assume' that STRAIGHT weight Oils are OK for ALL Kohler Engines. MOST of the current Kohler engines run Hydraulic Lifters and "REQUIRE" the use of 10-30 weight oil.

FWIW, I was at a Kohler school and there was some dicussion of the "COURAGE" engines (as there ususally is).. When the Rep asked those in attendence how Kohler got the Name "COURAGE"? One of the TECHS said "Because Kohler had the COURAGE to put their Name on it"..
laugh.gif

I thought that was really funny..
 
In my experience, broken-in air-cooled engines used in summer temps do very well on 15W-40 HDEO down to freezing. For snowblowers, any good 5W-30 synthetic will work well. I personally use Mobil 1 0W-40 for all year around when I don't have any leftover 15W-40.
 
Originally Posted By: FNFAL308
).. When the Rep asked those in attendence how Kohler got the Name "COURAGE"? One of the TECHS said "Because Kohler had the COURAGE to put their Name on it"..


LOL! That is funny. I always thought Kohler was out of their gourd for using "Courage" as a series name for their engines. It's a horrible marketing tool IMO.

Regardless, I've been following the product line since it's inception around 2005. I've read of a few single cyl catastrophic failures, usually due to loose crankcase cover bolts. Nothing on the twins.

Kohler 10w30 is an excellent choice from what I understand. The only issue is people get sticker shock when they see what your average shop wants for a quart of it. Most of us BITOG'ers would want to use that same $ for a HDEO and/or synthetic.
 
Originally Posted By: JTK
Originally Posted By: FNFAL308
).. When the Rep asked those in attendence how Kohler got the Name "COURAGE"? One of the TECHS said "Because Kohler had the COURAGE to put their Name on it"..


LOL! That is funny. I always thought Kohler was out of their gourd for using "Courage" as a series name for their engines. It's a horrible marketing tool IMO.

Regardless, I've been following the product line since it's inception around 2005. I've read of a few single cyl catastrophic failures, usually due to loose crankcase cover bolts. Nothing on the twins.

Kohler 10w30 is an excellent choice from what I understand. The only issue is people get sticker shock when they see what your average shop wants for a quart of it. Most of us BITOG'ers would want to use that same $ for a HDEO and/or synthetic.


I agree and have asked myself a number of times why they chose that name?
The Singles have had some issues and personally I don't like them. Even when they are running right they are loud and sound like they could come apart at any moment.

The TWINS are solid motors that will last a VERY long time with a reasonable maintenance schedule.

Yes the Kohler oil is very good but to be honest I don't do the
retail side of this stuff and I don't know what it sells for? I'll try & remember to take a look at what we charge and post back here. If nothing else it may give peeps a way to compare pricing for their area. While I'm all for saving $$ I tend to look at oil a bit diff then some I guess. Homeowners won't need to change their oil but once a year (based on a 40 hr OCI) and most of the TWINS only use 2-gts.. If I gotta spend $20.00 a year (and I think that's on the HIGH side)to change the oil in my mower I'm OK w/that. I bought my HUSTLER ZTR with the Optional HONDA Twin. I only use HONDA Air/Oil filters and quality dino oil. Have considered going to a SYN and may do that next time around.. Living in FL and mowing year round I expect I get a bit more hours run time than those in many other states so it may be worth the added expense..
 
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I found some Kohler 10W-30 today,it is $4.99 a quart.That is too much even if it is Kohler oil.I think that a good oil will work just as well if not better.The oil seemed to be duel rated with the SJ rating included,a diesel oil might be a good choice.

The oil filter was I think over $10.00,I think a Purolator or WIX will work as well,maybe better.

This mower was given to me,the owner thought that the trans. might be locked up but so far,the only thing I have found wrong is the VSP (Variable Speed Pulley) had the bearings go out and it was locked against the mount that holds the pulley.

It seems to be in pretty good shape from what I can tell.I havent been able to check it out real good but it seems to be ok.

I did take the blower housing off and check for loose crankcase bolts.They looked ok.

I hope to try and getting running in a few days.
 
Sounds like this tractor is a variator drive?

It's also common for the bushing on the center (moveable) sheave of the variator pulley to lock up. You usually wind-up with one slow ground speed when that happens.

You have to keep these systems from getting wet if you want to minimize problems.
 
Yeah,it is the variable drive.I did some cleaning on the pulley along with replacing the bearings and it works pretty good now.
 
So far the Courage V-twin in my 06 LT-1045 (which is really a 1046) even my dealer told me that. Anyway,so far it`s workig very good. I use GC 0W30 in it (from the first oil change) and it gets used for mowing,leaf pick up via a sweeper,and snow plowing. No complaints as of yet. But it only has a little over a 100 hrs. on it,so we`ll see. I do wish I would have gotten the GT model for plowing snow. Plenty of power, just not built heavy enough for real snow plowing. I.e cant really move piles like I would like too. But it does the job.
 
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I had a 23HP Kohler courage twin in a 52" cut Troy Bilt that I lost in a divorce. GREAT engine. I bought a 46" cut Troy Bilt with the 22HP single last year and have run it every week during cutting season for about 2 1/2 hours from July 2010 to present. What a difference! The twin was smooth, fast, and powerful. The single is loud, rough, not very fast and kind of powerful. Doesn't bog in high/thick grass too bad, but much slower and definately a jackhammer. The engine has been good except the carb getting gunked up....bad gas? I run regular Mobil synthetic 10w-30 in it. It meets GM 4718M, so it has to be a tough high temp oil. Anyway, it seems to be fine, but I reckon if you change it on time you will be good with anything that meets the spec. I am using Kohler filters right now, but next change I am going to use an oversized Supertech.
 
I run a single-cylinder 20hp B&S with 15W40. Goes great, fuel consumption is not noticeably different than on the SAE30. I do believe that the HDEO is tough stuff, and if a diesel can't kill it, an air-cooled engine can't either. Someone on this forum published a cross reference for OPE oil filters to car filters. I use an FL-400 on my engine ($5) vs. B&S ($10+). It's only a few bucks, but to me it's insulting to charge me double for half the oil filter.
 
Originally Posted By: 95busa
ph3600 is the oversized IIRC


For the Courage twins yes. I ran that size on mine.

For single cyl Courage, no. The way the filter is vertical and tucked up against the block on the singles is the limiting factor.

Joel
 
Originally Posted By: JTK
Originally Posted By: 95busa
ph3600 is the oversized IIRC


For the Courage twins yes. I ran that size on mine.

For single cyl Courage, no. The way the filter is vertical and tucked up against the block on the singles is the limiting factor.

Joel


YUP, aint no room for the larger filter on the singles..
I also hate that goofy A-S-S A/Filter design..
 
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