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Troy-Bilt Horse XP/Kohler Courage SV-601

I'm nearly at the end of this DIY repair, thank goodness. I cranked it up today and am hearing a sound I don't recognize, but I do have a habit of after any repair, seizing on a particular thing (sound/vibration/behavior) that I'd just never noticed before and panicking because I think it's a new problem.

A bit of background, I posted earlier about my mower running at too-high RPM and no throttle control. I got that issue squared away and am putting things back together today, but... when my engine started over-revving, I was mowing and listening to my earbuds and have no idea how long the engine ran like that. Could've been as long as an hour, but probably somewhat less.

Anyway, the sound is on the linked video below. The knocking is only noticeable during startup and shutoff... when it's running it sounds fine.

Check motor mount bolts. The shaking and knocking sound is typical at startup and shutdown and in some cases when the deck is engaged if the 4 mounting bolts are loose.

ILENGINE said:

Check motor mount bolts. The shaking and knocking sound is typical at startup and shutdown and in some cases when the deck is engaged if the 4 mounting bolts are loose.

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Good thought, but I was unable to budge them so it seems like they're tight. Thanks, though!

Unless someone recognizes the sound as a problem, I'm just going to assume it's the usual chugging of the engine at low revs.

cmayo said:

Good thought, but I was unable to budge them so it seems like they're tight. Thanks, though!

Unless someone recognizes the sound as a problem, I'm just going to assume it's the usual chugging of the engine at low revs.

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The Kohler Courage is a dog. It has several problems and you can read about them online. Keep oil in it and run it.

Tiger Small Engine said:

The Kohler Courage is a dog. It has several problems and you can read about them online. Keep oil in it and run it.

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Noted. The original engine blew three years into ownership and was replaced with a short block under warranty in 2019. I've been babying this one along for six years and not looking forward to the day when I have to replace it.

I just went through all this nonsense with the identical engine. Thought it was knocking. After disassembly and checking all the tolerances, I put it back together. New gaskets even on intake and exhaust. Only seems to knock when starting and slightly when PTO turned on. I finally decided to ignore it and it seemed to somewhat go away. That was back in May and it's still going and doing its job. May have been to critical.