FX850V dilemma

[LawnWizard]

I am hoping for advice from a seasoned Kawasaki engine tech. Here's what I have: a 9 year old Hustler Super Z that has had several parts replaced, good pumps and motors, mows great but has right at 2000 hrs on the Kaw FX850V-CS12 and is using oil. From personal experience, this is the beginning of the end for this engine. Now my dilemma, 1) is it worth rebuilding? I'm not a small engine mechanic but I do all my own maintenance on my equipment and am sure I could do a complete rebuild using Kaw parts for about $400. If nothing else it would be cheaper than taking a class on them and I could say that I have personally put one back together. If it gets an additional 500 to 1000 hours it would be money well spent. If not, again cheap education and therapy. 2) Replace? I am finding that EFI engines seem to be plentiful and about $300 cheaper than the CS-12 (S-12). Is it easy to convert an EFI engine to carb or to adapt the mower to accommodate the EFI engine (that would be ideal)? Or #3) repower with a Briggs engine for about 2/3 the price? If #3 is the answer which B&S engine do I need to use for the closest direct replacement (30 amp charging, correct crankshaft size, mounting holes, wiring harness, etc.)? Goal is to get another 1000 -1500 hours from this machine. Thanks to anyone willing to offer solid advice. I value the knowledge of those much more well versed than I.
(BTW, I'm not actually a Newby on here, just could not seem to recover my password so I created a new account)

 

[bertsmobile1]

The burning question is where is the oil going
it could be as simple as new inlet valve stem seals , breather spring or just a hone + rings
But you won't know till you pull the heads off
Does one side oil up worse than the other

 

[Scrubcadet10]

Burning oil could be a few things, at that hours, i could see piston rings causing it, it could also be a valve guide seals.

The thing about doing a total rebuild, you really never know for sure what you need until you tear everything down, and break out your caliper and micrometer, check the ring gap in the bore, measure the plain bearings, and rod clearance on the crankshaft....
Carrol stream has the FX850 for 2,189.00.
Looking through IPL's, doesn't appear there are oversize rings available, so if a bore is out of round, or is scored too badly or just wore out and needs bored out bigger, i don't see any rings to accommodate that, nor a piston...
as far as repowering with a briggs, i really don't know how much longer Briggs will be around... so can you get parts for it 5 years down the road?

 

[LawnWizard]

The burning question is where is the oil going
it could be as simple as new inlet valve stem seals , breather spring or just a hone + rings
But you won't know till you pull the heads off
Does one side oil up worse than the other

Both plugs were fouled pretty badly and evenly so I figured I could rule out valve stem seals (unless they went bad on both heads at approx the same time.) I have 125# compression on cyl 1 but only 90# on #2. No appreciable leak down on either side. I did adjust valve lash. Nothing weird noticed while doing that. Push rods, springs, etc all appear OK. No significant power loss once I replaced the fouled plugs bit still too much smoke on start up and some smoke under load. I'd like to think rings But so many people tell me rebuild is a waste of money. That's why I'm on here looking for other opinions/ options. Thanks!

 

[LawnWizard]

Burning oil could be a few things, at that hours, i could see piston rings causing it, it could also be a valve guide seals.

The thing about doing a total rebuild, you really never know for sure what you need until you tear everything down, and break out your caliper and micrometer, check the ring gap in the bore, measure the plain bearings, and rod clearance on the crankshaft....
Carrol stream has the FX850 for 2,189.00.
Looking through IPL's, doesn't appear there are oversize rings available, so if a bore is out of round, or is scored too badly or just wore out and needs bored out bigger, i don't see any rings to accommodate that, nor a piston...
as far as repowering with a briggs, i really don't know how much longer Briggs will be around... so can you get parts for it 5 years down the road?

Thanks, getting it bored and oversized pistons/ rings is really not an option for me without having access to a machine shop on the cheap. Sending it out would run into more expense than replacement. Do you know if an EFI version is adaptable? I can get one for about $1700? Or again just less expensive in the long run to pay more now for the direct replacement?

 

[Scrubcadet10]

One thing i should have asked first, what color is the smoke?

 

[LawnWizard]

Blue, def oil. Uses about 1/2 qt every 10 or so hours. I change oil & filter every 50 hrs in all my machines.

 

[LawnWizard]

BTW, I didn't mention oil change frequency or type in the original post because I didn't want to get off on a tangent about "Best oil", too often / not often enough, etc since what I'm doing now works for me. Just wanted to stay focused on their particular situation. I see so many threads become sidetracked by personal preferences.

 

[LawnWizard]

One thing i should have asked first, what color is the smoke?

What's your first take on the compression difference? 35# seems like too big a difference to me???

 

[bertsmobile1]

Rare for an FX to suffer excessive wear from dust unless you have the bad habit of regularly removing the air filter for cleaning.
The Donaldson filters should not be touched till there are signs of the engine running rich ( filter blocked ) when the outer gets replaced .
# outers to each inner, but if you keep pulling the elements out you wreck the seal which allows dust into the engine.
Before you go down any path, pull the heads & have a look inside
a FX should be good for 10,000 hours standing on it's head .