Husqvarna YTH20K46 with Kohler Courage (Strong Vibration and Hard Stop/Shutdown)

[pin2too]

Hello, this is my first post here, and looking forward to hearing from others on their experience.

Items:
Husqvarna YTH20K46 Riding Mower (Model # 9604500414)
Kohler Courage (Model # SV600S)

Problem:
1. Oil leak at the base of the block
2. Oil leak at the valve cover
3. Block shaking and vibration
4. Hard clanking and knocking when shutting down

I was able to resolve the oil leaks by fixing the commonly known pain points

(1) Replaced the valve cover gasket and resealed with RTV gasket maker and OEM gasket.
(2) Resealed the top plate gasket with OEM gasket with proper torquing of all the bolts.
(3) Resealed the oil drain plug with RTV gasket maker because it was getting loose from the engine vibrations.
(4) Replace all the carburetor gaskets, fuel filter, and sparkplug and oil filter.
(5) Started using premium fuel and fresh oil after all these changes.

The remaining Problem:

I am having the issue with a lot of vibrations on the engine; I tightened the bolts that hold the engine block to the body frame, but the vibration is still occurring and the hard-knocking noise when shutting down the engine.
Anyone has suggestions on what to look into next. I am adding the link to the YT video to show my issue.

Kohler Courage Vibrations 2

Kohler Courage Vibrations

Kohler Courage Ruff Stop

 

[mechanic mark]

Check oil level on dipstick, ok or not? Torque four engine mount bolts to torque specified in service manual.
See pages 11 & 69 for valve adjustments & page 16 for engine knocking possibilities.

http://www.kohlerengines.com/engines/onlinecatalog/pdf/sm_20_690_01.pdf

 

[Scrubcadet10]

After doing what mark said, and that all checks out, Check for a crack in the block in the area i highlighted (and other parts of the block, but that's where most of them crack)
Could also be the counterbalance in the engine is shot as that would cause clanging and vibration....

 

[Affordable in Indy]

This is what I would do:

1) Take the air filter off and spray a small, steady amount of carb cleaner into the carburetor while it's running. If the engine smooths out and runs well while you're doing that, the engine is not getting enough fuel from the carb. Clean it or replace it.
2) Check for a bent push rod and reset the valve clearances
3) After it's been running for a minute or two, turn it off and remove the dip stick. If there are exhaust fumes coming out of the fill tube, you have a blown head gasket.
4) The engine should not be moving like that. The mounting bolts need to be tightened again. I hope the holes are not stripped out.
5) Look at the bottom of the engine where the drive belt is. Make sure that pulley isn't damaged/bent.

 

[bertsmobile1]

Doubling up on Scrubbies post
Triple check that the 2 halves of the counter weight are tightly bolted together
and check them for play in the bush.
Get under the engine and have some one rotate the crankshaft while you check it for bending.
Smooth running but rough stopping is usually caused by a bad bearing in the con rod or the counterweight, loose counterweight or bent crankshaft .
All of these will cause failure of the oil seal .

 

[Mower King]

Even when everything is right with those engines, they are noisy, and vibrate too. The way they have those counter balance weights on the crankshaft.....SMH......well, it's just the nature of that model of engine.

 

[Scrubcadet10]

My courage 19 (sv590-0220) is going on 290 hours.... So far so good... I need to replace the yellow EZ drain as it's leaking...going to put in a hard pipe and cap.

Even when everything is right with those engines, they are noisy, and vibrate too. The way they have those counter balance weights on the crankshaft.....SMH......well, it's just the nature of that model of engine.

 

[bertsmobile1]

Even when everything is right with those engines, they are noisy, and vibrate too. The way they have those counter balance weights on the crankshaft.....SMH......well, it's just the nature of that model of engine.

Actually it was the bad manufacturing by the USA plant.
Kohler China are now making the bucket engines and the fixed all the problems that the American factory seemed to be having problems sorting out.
WE get lots of them in cheap & nasty ride ons and the engines are excellent .
It amazes me the amount of prejudice I see about these engines.
Got over 50 of them in my repair run
Have almost no problems with any of them once I was made aware of the ned to apply loc-tite to the 4 front bolts check them when ever I remove the blower housing to clean the block which is a pleasure because the 6mm bolts are all easily accessiable from the top.
Oil fliter changes are a clean pleasure to do & I don't spend more time cleaning up spilled oil than I do changing the filter.
All engine work can be done engine in mower which cuts down labour costs, unlike changine a 28 or 31 series Briggs cam which go bad with regular monotony

 

[Mower King]

IMO...any counter balance mounted on a crankshaft eccentric, moving up & down to try to balance an engine, is a bad idea....it's just more parts to break and I have seen several break, even new. Should have been balanced better before it went into production.

 

[bertsmobile1]

IMO...any counter balance mounted on a crankshaft eccentric, moving up & down to try to balance an engine, is a bad idea....it's just more parts to break and I have seen several break, even new. Should have been balanced better before it went into production.

So it is OK for Briggs to use counter balance weights & not Kohler ?
How about Honda motorcycle engines ?
Or Mitsubishi 4G 62 , 4G 63, 4G 64 engines which ran for over 40 years with over 10,000,000 of them made ? They had 2 countershafts in the rear wheel drive variants and a single one for the front wheel drive engines
There is no way to balance a single cylinder engine fully without a counterweight
Even a lot of twin cylinder engines benefited from counterweights
Now they could have used a 45 lb full flywheel crankshaft dynamically balanced to 3400 rpm but then you would have needed a 13 plate heavy duty battery to power the 3 Hp starter motor.
Now t is probably not a fair comparison based on the actual size of the production runs but I have stripped down better than 100 Briggs engines with a counterweight hanging out the back of the engine .
I have pulled down very few Courages with a counterweight that has gone through the cases, a couple have broken the long joining bolt and jambed the crank but none have gone through the side & trashed the engine.