hi folks, new to this forum. hope you can get me going in the right direction. my older laser w/ 22 hp kohler seems to have alot of oil coming out of the breather tube and puddling in the air filter plate. this engine has about 2500 known hours on it. [the hour meter was unplugged for a bit by the original owner] it was missfiring a bit and fouling 1 plug. i changed the coils and seems to be running fine, just a minor miss once in a while. thanks for any help offered.
I would take a look at the possibility of a bad head gasket. With the engine running at half throttle, unscrew the dipstick and set it loose on the tube. Does it jump up/down? If the answer is yes, you may have to replace the head gasket on the side with the fouled plug.
sorry i didnt respond earlier, i had to go to a derby party. no i didnt pick the winner but had fun anyway. my dipstick fits pretty tight but there seems to be quite a bit of pressure coming from the tube. enough to flap a card held 1/2 inch away. hope this helps you help me. thanks again.
If you just rest the dipstick on top of the fill tube and it bounces up and down I would be changing the head gasket on the side of the fouled plug, especially if it is oil fouled. If you have the availability of a compression gauge and/or cylinder leak down tester you could double check before proceeding.
#9
reynoldston
With over 2500 hrs it sure sound like OH time to me.
I'm thinking the same way, but would like to see some tests done before recommend it. Tough to diagnose with out it in front of me. Not sure if I really have enough info to recommend overhaul.
thanks for the help. i can get use of compression tester later this week and will check. with this many hours on it any opinion if i should just buy a new engine? i have seen them on internet for 15-1900. the rest or the machine seems to be worth it rather than buying a new or another used one.
That all depends on what you find. Do you have a good mechanic in your area? Sorry, I would never recommend that with so little info in front of me. Not even rebuilding. At this point I would have to know things like; age and condition of the unit, type of uses, operator, etc. If it were that easy, all my posts would be replace the engine.
while waiting for a friend w/ compression tester i did a bit of looking, found 2 head bolts finger tight. decided to just start tearing apart, found intake bolts on left side less than finger tight. pulled heads and both gaskets had been leaking, one into the valve one out the side of block. checked for warping, both look good, the tin shrouds seen like a grass collector, any trouble if i leave them off? ordered parts, should be back together this weekend. again thanks for the help. will post when running again
No, you must have the shrouds on while running the engine, they are a critical part of the cooling system. Looks like you found your problem. Insert new gaskets and torque properly.
Sorry to disagree redfish, but he found loose head bolts. Running an engine with loose bolts is the fastest way to blow a gasket. He's going to have to replace them anyway. Why add an extra expense when he's found a probable cause?
rivets, back together and running fine. just a hint of oil on air filter plate. thanks so much to you and the people who run this forum. one small problem i have had for along time, how do i get my wife to mow the lawn? thanks again, kellysdad.
