Kohler Engine Life

[VegetiveSteam]

It's of course hard to say since you don't know how it was taken care of. From personal experience, I can tell you I've seen many Kohler Command twin cylinders engines on mowing equipment exceed 3000 hours. Well taken care of, 4000 hours is not unheard of.

 

[RevB]

I learned in this forum that one should do a "cylinder leak down test" to get a better idea of the engines cylinder health. I bought a test kit from Harbor
Freight for cheap. You'll need 120 psi compressed air for the tester. I would establish the health of the rings and cylinder wear before tearing into a rebuild.
OEM parts pricing has gone up significantly. If you have healthily cylinder pressure....I'd buy rags before spending rebuilding or repowering bucks.

Changing for leaks for areas like crankshaft seals are not so easy. Cover seals are much easier
and relatively inexpensive to complete.

Kinda don't think you need 120psi since the gauges only go to 100 psi. 50 psi will do as you are measuring the relative sealing ability of valves and rings......

 

[GearHead36]

A few years ago, I bought a ZTR with a Kohler Confidant engine, a variant of the Command family, I think. The mower looked like it had been "rode hard and put away wet", but the engine had good compression. It also "leaked oil from everywhere". It had NOT been properly maintained. This season is the 4th season I've had it. I battled oil leaks ever since I bought it, fixing leaks here & there for 3 seasons, but none of those fixes stopped all the leaks. Prior to this season, I installed a reseal kit, and the engine bay this season is completely oil-free for the first time since I've owned it. It doesn't use oil either. If the compression checks out, I'd reseal it.

 

[Yardman999]

Unheard of that kind of hours. I have never heard of any small engine going over 1/2 that amount of hours. I am not saying it isn’t true, just that it is an exceptionally long amount of hours.

My CH22, the original engine in my Yardman 999 garden tractor, is still running strong after 31 years. IDK hours used, though, but at least weekly mowings of ~1.5 acres (~1.5 hours) and twice-annual powered bushhog towing (~5 hours each).

Do those oil and filter changes, as well as air and fuel filters, and spark plugs, often! And clean the cooling fins routinely. Mine has needed a couple of fuel pumps as well as ignition coils over the years. And I replaced the vacuum lines and the starter once. Head/block never taken apart.