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Just think I Made a Mistake buying a mower with a kohler 7000 series engine on it. It's got less than two hours on it and stalls,loses power or just quits after warm up. Dealer got my cash now doesn't really care, any help would be great.

TAKE IT BACK TO THE DEALER IT IS COVERED BY WARRANTTEE
If the dealer you bought t from is being a PIA then park it in front of his driveway with a big sign with all of your problems on it Saturday & Sunday ( if they are open )
Ring the local TV and newspapers, they love these types of stories.
The dealer will suddenly become very co-operative.

OTOH if you got it home and fired it up without oil in the engine or no filter then you are out of luck although the dealer should have supplied it ready to mow.

Dpmulvan said:

Just think I Made a Mistake buying a mower with a kohler 7000 series engine on it. It's got less than two hours on it and stalls,loses power or just quits after warm up. Dealer got my cash now doesn't really care, any help would be great.

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Did you use fresh gas in it?

Let me guess a hustler?

Yup you got it

Turns out it's not hustlers fault. A casting flaw in an oil galley screws up crankcase pressure causing fuel pump to not operate correctly. Kohler should have put out a bulletin to let consumers know.

Dpmulvan said:

Turns out it's not hustlers fault. A casting flaw in an oil galley screws up crankcase pressure causing fuel pump to not operate correctly. Kohler should have put out a bulletin to let consumers know.

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In a way it is Hustlers fault. The Kohler 7000 series engine is a relatively new engine, it's only been around for a couple of years. It's not surprising that it will or would have some issues. I'm guessing the reason that Excel / Hustler went with the Kohler over Kawasaki was price. The Hustler raptor or raptor sd will be cheaper to produce with the Kohler engine vs the Kawasaki. It basically comes down to how much money Excel can make or pocket.

I totally agree unfortunately I had to buy what I could afford. Much rather have a Honda or Kawasaki motor.

Dpmulvan said:

I totally agree unfortunately I had to buy what I could afford. Much rather have a Honda or Kawasaki motor.

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I've run both Kohler and Kawasaki Engines and the Kohler is a good engine and they back what they sell. I ran the Kohler Courage for a number of years and never had any issues when everyone was saying they were a bad engine but you could never prove it by me. I'm running the Kawasaki engines at the present time and never had any issues with them but there are those who condemn them also. There's really not an engine made that can't have an issue on occasion or a particular line or run, it happens.

I don't blame Hustler for trying to make the most money than can for there product and they have always made a great mower, one of the best going but they should do better at there residential units. They had a reasonably good unit with the the Raptor when they used the FR series Kawasaki. Honda makes a good engine but unfortunately they never had any success with there bigger engines in the commercial line of mowers, there great if you like the push mowers.

Ric said:

I've run both Kohler and Kawasaki Engines and the Kohler is a good engine and they back what they sell. I ran the Kohler Courage for a number of years and never had any issues when everyone was saying they were a bad engine but you could never prove it by me. I'm running the Kawasaki engines at the present time and never had any issues with them but there are those who condemn them also. There's really not an engine made that can't have an issue on occasion or a particular line or run, it happens.

I don't blame Hustler for trying to make the most money than can for there product and they have always made a great mower, one of the best going but they should do better at there residential units. They had a reasonably good unit with the the Raptor when they used the FR series Kawasaki. Honda makes a good engine but unfortunately they never had any success with there bigger engines in the commercial line of mowers, there great if you like the push mowers.

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Speaking of Kohler Courage, I have had one since 2008, it swallowed a valve, trashed the head and piston in 2012. In favor of Kohler, belive it or not, Kohler supplied a new short block and head no charge. I had to pay the labor, no problem to me after four years. Now THAT is warranty!!!!!!!!!!

Just purchased a new Cub Cadet steering wheel zero turn with the 7000 series on it, hope it treats me as well.

Have heard Kohler has a good warranty and will honor it. But you can't prove it by me. I had a pair of ignition coils to go bad. [actually the internal steering diodes failed] The engine was under warranty so Kohler told me just get the coils replaced by the dealer and all they needed was the engine's serial number. None of them would honor the warranty so I called Kohler back and they said cant help as it is a local dealer policy. Because of this I have not brought another Kohler replacement for my customers. Even the local Hustler dealer was of no help as the mower was not brought from them so I don't buy parts from them either anymore. Neither of them need my business if they can't honor warranties. Now I do buy parts for both brands but I no longer buy them locally. I just cant support local dealer when they refuse to honor a warranty.

My customer had the same problem with the Hustler dealer that he did buy the mower from which is why it was in my shop in the first place. He paid for two coils at my cost and labor to install them. I would had rather had to coils make up by Kohler so the customer didn't have to pay for them of course labor would still had been charged since I am not a Kohler dealer, just way too small to justify stocking tons of Kohler parts.

The customer is happy with the ZTR, just not with the service after the sale from the Hustler dealer.

Just my personal experience dealing Kohler.

But I do appreciate the info on the problem about the Kohler 7000 series and will keep it in the back of my mind when working on one. Hopefully the next time I pull an IPL on one there would be a service bulletin of this problem along with a serial number range.

When I bought the house that I’m in now, the former owner left me a Troy-Bilt Mustang 50”. It had just over 1,000 hours on it. It was powered by a Kohler Courage 22. It needed an air filter, fuel filter, and oil change. It ran great. I traded it for a new Toro MX5000. Heck, it cut better than the Toro.

MParr said:

When I bought the house that I’m in now, the former owner left me a Troy-Bilt Mustang 50”. It had just over 1,000 hours on it. It was powered by a Kohler Courage 22. It needed an air filter, fuel filter, and oil change. It ran great. I traded it for a new Toro MX5000. Heck, it cut better than the Toro.

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When somebody mentions Courage everybody thinks of the issues that the single cylinder had, but in reality the V twin was a reliable engine and had very few major issues.

ILENGINE said:

When somebody mentions Courage everybody thinks of the issues that the single cylinder had, but in reality the V twin was a reliable engine and had very few major issues.

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yes I have had only minor problems with the V twin version other than the one that inhaled the throttle plate steel screws. destroyed the cylinder head and got lucky that the piston survived.