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I have aZT50 with 5 hours on it which puts out a cloud of oil smoke when you go up a grade.Its such a huge cloud its embarassing.Kohler manual says thier motor is OK to run up to 25 degree angle and I'm well below that.Trobilt has not even replied to my emails..The last one on May 25 said I'd get a response in 3 business days- nothing yet.
Has anyone had similar issues?

I would contact a Kohler dealer, as this is under the engine warranty of your unit. That's what troybuit will tell you if you getba reply. Have you checked to see if you accidentally over filled it with oil.

Thanks for the quick response,rivets. Troybuilt should hire you!
Yes I carefully checked the oil,it was at its upper mark when I purchased the machine and has used a fair amount so is not overfilled.
I am treating this as a warranty problem,but when I contacted Canadian Tire where I bought it, the shop they use to handle these issues is 35 miles away and by his admission,a week and a half behind schedule.I realise this is the way things work but I am frustrated by Troybilts lack of response.
I will be video taping the smog show before I take it in.
Mostly I posted this message to see if anyone had similar issues

I have a Honda Rear engine rider that smokes. It's a redneck fogger. Keeps the mosquitoes away when mowing. :laughing: It's just like the riding mower in this youtube video. Honda HT-R 3009 start up/Redneck Mosquito Fogger!!!! - YouTube

A friend asked me if I wanted it because he was tired of it smoking him out. I told him sure I'll take it off your hands. He filled it with gas, my dad drove me down to his house, I got on it and drove it home. All the way it was smoking. No mosquitoes bothered me that night. :laughing:

Chad

Hey Chad ,sounds like you,ve got the mosquitoes whipped.
Was hoping to use mine to cut grass mostly!!

With five hours I would just return it.

Wish they would let me return it but unfortunately the kohler warrantystates they can repairor replace at theiroption. I have the mower back now,it was in the repair shop for 3 weeks and I didn't have it to cut grass for almost all of June,the time grass grows most.
I called Kohler Canada customer relations and asked them if they could toss me a bone for myproblems by at least giving me full warranty from the time the motor was tore down and new parts put in but the reply was no its not our policy.
I will say this about my purchase of a troybilt so far-Ispent a fair bit of time thinking about spending this much money on a lawn mower and I am definitely not rich. Neither Troybilt nor Kohler have called or emailed to at least say sorry for selling a defective product in fact the Kohler pr guy seemed to feel I should be happy that I didn't have to pay for any repair.This kind ofsituation sure took the fun out of owning something new and obviously I won't be recommending Troybilt to anyone.

What did the repair shop do to the engine. I have worked with Kohler hundreds of times and don't remember being treated that way. Something's fishy.

Isnel, you did the right thing voicing your thoughts here. The best or worst form of advertising is by way of mouth. I'm sure people will think about buying from Crappy Tire, Kohler or Troybilt after reading your thread.
Good job!

Thanks for the comments.I am trying to stick with the facts without embellishing to keep this a valid thread.I am going to contactKohler for more info because the repair shop was quite busy and I really didn't get an adequate explanation of why there was a problem with a brand new engine.
Here's what the bill says-Removed engine
-removed clutch,muffler
-removed engine side cover
-installed breather kit
-cleaned surfaces
-reinstalled and sealed crankcase
-reinstalled clutch
-test OK
Actually only used the mower once since getting it back,we're having a serious drought here and I've left the lawn to survive on its own,so its stopped growing.Pretty much parched.
Leads to another annoyance.I was puzzelled about these nice rectangles of dead grass appearing overnight on my lawn when it was still green.Turns out the muffler is so hot and low to the ground it scorches the grass real quick even if you just stop long enough to move lawn furniture.I had been parking the mower in the barn with hay laying around but not any more after seeing that.

Hate to say it, but I think Kohler is now going to tell you to contact TroyBilt. Mufflers are normally an aftermarket to the equipment builder. Has the smoking problem gone away? Did Kohler cover the repairs under warranty? I think you are going to be stuck between a rock and a hard place. I would contact Canadian tire for a phone number for TroyBilt. I am not going to be in the shop for the rest of the week, but if you cannot get in touch with TroyBilt post back and I will see if I can get you a number.

Is it a CV25 engine? If so, there are known issues with the head gaskets being too thin between the cylinder and the passage that drains oil back from the head.

The motor is i believe 22 hp and somewhere between model SV10 andSV40.There are several different hp models but all seem to have the same bore and stroke ,and compression ratio so not sure how they step up the hp.
Rivets wondered if it still burnt oil so I gave it a decent workout on the grades on the filter bed and did a few donuts to inhale some exhaust and I'd have to say I think its so far so good.
I did notice the hydraulic drives were whining a bit more than before and one had been weeping oil with the odd drop on the floor where I parked so I thought I better check the level.because I definitely didn't want to have more issues.
I had mentioned this when I had the mower in the shop and the conclusion was I'd keep an eye on it and in their words 'its really hard to check"
I wanted to know how much oil and how to check.No use calling Troybilt,they don't have that information.If that sounds abit sarcastic, its their business model not mine.
So I called Power source Canada and theysupply but do not build the drive.Its made by hydro gear.
There should be 53 to 55 oz of 20w-50 in each and should be 3/4 to1and1/2 inches from the top of the breather hole.
Here's where some people will think I'm full of crap but its the honest truth.The breather hole is in a bit of a tricky spot but not near as bad as some snowmobiles or bikesIve worked on. You don't have enough room above the hole to use a dipstick so I carefully used a ziptie to go deeper and deeper- no oil for 4 inches and I think I was on the bottom of the casing!
OK trouble thereso I'llcheck the drive on the other wheel,expecting it to be OK
Its the same-almost dry.There is some oil in there becase it drives Even called the service shop to see if the engine had to be running or something else but it appears to me somehow it was shipped way low on oil.I would be happy to be proven wrong on this if anyone knows differently.I checked and double checked.
More phone calls -got to take it back for service to see if its OK and get the event noted for future warranty issues.So I got to thinking enough of this crap- its supposed to be a new machine and the issues I've had are unacceptible.Talked civilly to the manager at Canadian Tire told him I was taking a stand after he tried to pass the ball again and told him I would drop it off at the store entrance if he didn't do something.My dumbest mistake was buying this thing on my CT credit card to get the points and then paying off the card.Stupid,stupid.
He called Troybilt andthey wanted to deal directly with me he said
Basically got nowhere with them yet The person on the other end even wondered at one point why I was calling Troybilt when the warranty issue was withhydro gear.

I'll carry on,this is part of the same post Trobilt to me doesn't appear to be very concerned about hearing about quality issues on components they have put on their machinesJust go and get the manufacturers to cover the warranty.They suggested I contact hydrogear to see if they would pay to get my Troybilt taken to the repair shop again.That was helpful.
When the repair shop checks the hydraulic drives I am going to be there to see how much oil is in there and if its as low as I think, there will be new drives going in.

I would send a copy of all the posts here directly to Canadian Tire at this address:
PO Box 2000, Station Main
Welland, ON
L3B 5S3

And to TroyBilt at this address:

P.O. Box 361131
Cleveland, Ohio 44136

Explain to each of them that you feel that you are getting the run-a-round, because no one will help you. Include copies of the receipts and work orders from the service shop. It is my opinion that HydroGear ships their drives dry for safety reasons and it is the responsibility of the equipment manufacturers to fill and test them. I know that this is going to be a pain in the butt to do, and will take time, but just giving you my opinion. I have worked with many of the manufacturers of both equipment and engines and 95% of the time they are very willing to help. If they know that you are trying to get help on forums like this, they probably don't want the bad press. If Canadian Tire sent you to this service dealership, I am wondering why they are not doing more to resolve this problem, if for no other reason than to get your business in the future.

Sorry, that's the only suggestion I can give you at this time.

I can't really say no one will help because they have individually helped.,What is frustrating is the big picture of the way companies are set up
It works well for canadian Tire,they make a sale and hand any issues off to Troybilt,who put their name on a bunch of parts and pass off problems to the manufactuer.However it makes for an unhappy customer when things go wrong through no fault on my part.Someone did screw up on the fluids in the hydraulic drives if my checking proves correct.The fellow atPower Source said he thought they were shipped dry from Hydro gearMakes sense to me.
The technical support guy at Troybilt said no these units come ready to install with fluids in.They are a closed system.If they build a mower and send it out without checking fluids that the customer isn't supposed to worry about then that is totally irresponsible in my opinion.And if he's mistaken its no wonder I have a mower with problems.
Thanks for your advice,Rivets.I will take it.
I did wonder how 2 drives could end up low on oil on one machine if they came prefilled so suspect either I haven't checked the level properly or (my bet) someone got careless at the assembly plant.

What does your owners manual say? That's where you will have the most pull.

Just to update this,mower is back in the shop for over a week now, they hope to have an answer on Thursday, about the hydraulic drives.
The original shop that worked on the motor isn't authorized to repair the hydraulics so now its at Home Hardware for repairs.What a sad joke this has become.
Rivets, the manual says the hydraulics are maintenance free,they are a closed system.I only checked the level because I noticed it was weeping where two castings are bolted together.They said at power source it could also possibly be a pourous casting

Make sure you get a complete description of what is done to repair the unit. IE, replaced the drives, tightened the bolts, tightened loose fittings, things like that. Also, this should be covered under your warranty, don't let them say certain things are not. Only thing that I would not cover is pickup and delivery. Personally I would demand new drives, as you have no idea what internal damage may have been done with them running dry. Let us know what happens.

Hopefully this will wrap up my experience with my new troybilt..Thankfully ,it turns out there is an allen screw in behind the bolt with the breather tube ,which is the real place to check the fluid level.It eluded me and the tech guy at Power source..
The hydraulic drive was removed and resealed to fix the leak and now I hope things are good.This time the mower was in the shop another almost 3 weeks for that repair which is not what I figured on from a new purchase.

This is my take on my involvement so far with this company.Your customer support is a joke.Makes me wonder if you even keep track of the repairs done by the sattelite suppliers you use since I have never received any inquirey's from you as to whether things were fixed to my satisfaction or not.I even blew my cellphone bill through the roof on this!