Kohler Engine With Foamy Oil

[JCT]

The engine I was working on is a Kohler Command CV22S. It is a 2001 and running great. I had just changed the oil and was test running the engine. During the checking of the oil level I noticed that it was a little foamy. That should have set off an alert. I continued noting that the oil level was correct and assuming it was ready to run. Test ran the mower and it work as expected. Later on in the week I got an email from the volunteer that mows the grass and uses the above lawn mower. He stated the mower was running fine and then he heard a "clunk" and the engine stopped. I inspected the engine and found that it had broken both connecting rods. I took the engine apart and found that a "welch" plug had come out of the oil pump and thus the oil pump was sucking air causing a lose of oil pressure, thus causing the catastrophic destruction of the engine. Why Kohler would use a "welch" plug in the oil pump is beyond me. It did last 23 years, but would still be going strong if it would have stayed in place. Kohler will never get my business again.

 

[Scrubcadet10]

what is the spec number of the engine? CV22S-xxxx?

 

[JCT]

what is the spec number of the engine? CV22S-xxxx?

The spec. # is 75534

 

[JCT]

The Kohler CV22S spec #75534.

 

[VegetiveSteam]

The engine I was working on is a Kohler Command CV22S. It is a 2001 and running great. I had just changed the oil and was test running the engine. During the checking of the oil level I noticed that it was a little foamy. That should have set off an alert. I continued noting that the oil level was correct and assuming it was ready to run. Test ran the mower and it work as expected. Later on in the week I got an email from the volunteer that mows the grass and uses the above lawn mower. He stated the mower was running fine and then he heard a "clunk" and the engine stopped. I inspected the engine and found that it had broken both connecting rods. I took the engine apart and found that a "welch" plug had come out of the oil pump and thus the oil pump was sucking air causing a lose of oil pressure, thus causing the catastrophic destruction of the engine. Why Kohler would use a "welch" plug in the oil pump is beyond me. It did last 23 years, but would still be going strong if it would have stayed in place. Kohler will never get my business again.

Not just Kohler uses welch plugs. And years don't really mean much. How many hours did the engine run?

 

[GearHead36]

It did last 23 years, but would still be going strong if it would have stayed in place. Kohler will never get my business again.

Um... I'm thinking that if an engine lasts 23 yrs, I really couldn't complain if it dies.

 

[Yardman999]

Hope not! My CH22 is almost 30, and still going strong. Knock on wood, and lots of oil/filter changes.

 

[Tiger Small Engine]

The engine I was working on is a Kohler Command CV22S. It is a 2001 and running great. I had just changed the oil and was test running the engine. During the checking of the oil level I noticed that it was a little foamy. That should have set off an alert. I continued noting that the oil level was correct and assuming it was ready to run. Test ran the mower and it work as expected. Later on in the week I got an email from the volunteer that mows the grass and uses the above lawn mower. He stated the mower was running fine and then he heard a "clunk" and the engine stopped. I inspected the engine and found that it had broken both connecting rods. I took the engine apart and found that a "welch" plug had come out of the oil pump and thus the oil pump was sucking air causing a lose of oil pressure, thus causing the catastrophic destruction of the engine. Why Kohler would use a "welch" plug in the oil pump is beyond me. It did last 23 years, but would still be going strong if it would have stayed in place. Kohler will never get my business again.

23 years on an air cooled engine is a nice long life. The Kohler Command is a solid, great, reliable engine.

Has it ever occurred to you that maybe Kohler doesn’t want your business? Someone who bad mouths Kohler’s entire business over a 23 year old engine that performed great until the oil pump took a crap.

 

[VegetiveSteam]

I'm still curious as to how many hours were on the engine. I've seen homeowners who ran their equipment roughly an hour a week for 30 to 35 weeks a year. At 35 hours a year, times 23 years, that's only 805 hours. A well taken care of Kohler Command should run 3 to 4 times that many hours.

Oil pump welch plugs coming loose was an issue Kohler was aware of, but it was not very common. Like I mentioned, oil pump failures weren't unique to Kohler.

Sadly, under Kohler Engine's new ownership, you may not get many more chances to buy a new Kohler engine and you will probably never get as good of an engine as you did just a few years ago IMO.