TroyBilt Garden tractor with defective Kohler engine

[Seattle Troy-Built with K]

I bought a TroyBilt garden tractor from Tractor Supply in Monroe, Washington last May. Used it about 10 times. From day one is started sending smoke from the Kohler motor exhaust every so often. The motor eventually smoked very bad, and the motor died. I checked the factory spark plug and the electrode was smashed down so there was no gap. I installed a new plug, but within a couple hours of use, the new plug also was smashed and the engine would not run. After a third plug and another bout of downtime, I took the mower 23 miles one way to Kohler factory authorized shop "The Mower Shop" in Seattle. It took them a month to "Fix" it under Kohler warranty. When I finally got it back, it lasted about 40 minutes and did the same thing. Smashed spark plug. I brought the mower back to The Mower Shop where it has been sitting for ten days waiting for Kohler to handle the warranty repair. In the meantime, I am now without a mower going on 6 weeks, not to mention 2 trips for plugs, and so far, 92 miles in travel back and forth to The Mower Shop, with no end in sight. Kohler delegates warranties to local repair shops and you are at their mercy. What a great way to avoid warranties, Kohler simply sends you to a repair shop and if you aren't happy with the service, Kohler just sends you back to the repair shop. Never again.
Tractor Supply will not get involved with warranties on their products.

 

[Scrubcadet10]

The only way i can think of a plug electrode getting smashed is Piston contact... either too long of a plug is being used, or there is excess play in the wrist pin or connecting rod big end.... but you'd hear it rattling.
What is the model of the engine and what is the spark plug part number.... Also, considering the puffs of smoke....i wonder if the head gasket wasn't placed during assembly.

 

[Seattle Troy-Built with K]

The tech at The Mower Shop said that there was a piece of metal in the combustion chamber. He removed it, replaced the head gasket, tested it for a few minutes, said it ran fine, and after I ran it for a half hour the same little puffs of smoke came out, then more, then rattle and lots of smoke and engine died. Spark plug gap was zero again, just like before. Still waiting for Kohler to send a new motor to the repair shop. Almost 6 weeks now without a mower. Kohler delegates warranty work to their repair shops, so you can't even get direct information from Kohler. Not to mention that I paid $1900.00 for a mower that has been in the shop longer than it was used. Horrible customer service from Kohler.

 

[StarTech]

Sounds like a throttle or choke vane came loose and was inhaled the first time. They can do a lot damage when they do.

 

[Seattle Troy-Built with K]

I'm OK with things breaking down under warranty every so often. I'm not OK with Kohler and their policy of delegating the warranty to a third party so the manufacturer can abandon their customers.

 

[bertsmobile1]

As Star said
Most of us have a Bore-O-Scope for these types of problems so we can look inside the cylinder.
Had a Kohler injest a screw from the throttle butterfly .
It bounced around inside the cylinder for ages and eventually it broke away sections of the piston .
Usually the screw will pass strait out the exhaust .

 

[Rivets]

Have you contacted Kohler engine technical support directly at one of these two numbers. If not you have not, you have nothing to loose in doing so. If you do call them, have the following information on hand.
Model and Serial numbers of the tractor
All information off the Kohler ID tag, model, serial and spec numbers.
Date of purchase
All dates it has been in the shop, and everything they told you and copies of the work orders To let them know exactly what the shop did And how they handled your problem.
When you get to talk to them, remember that honey works better than vinegar. Remember you want to work with them to resolve the problem. Don’t start off with demands, they will shut you down very quickly. It’s not a bad idea to write down your concerns beforehand, so you answers to any questions they have.
It would surprise me greatly if you don‘t get some help, if your willing to put all your bad experiences out of the picture when talking to them.

+1-800-456-4537. +1-920-457-4441

 

[bertsmobile1]

I'm OK with things breaking down under warranty every so often. I'm not OK with Kohler and their policy of delegating the warranty to a third party so the manufacturer can abandon their customers.

You are not the customer .
You did not pay Kohler directly for the engine
The factory is Kohlers customer they wrote the cheque to Kohler not you.
You wrote a cheque to pay the mower factory for the mower so you are the mower factorys customer and it is them who have the warranty obligations with you .
That is the way the system works
As for paying $ 1900 , that is peanuts when you convert it to real currency which is hours of your labour.
So you actually paid around 120 hours ( ≈ 3 weeks ) for it .
At that price there is only a couple of hundred mark up for the dealer , a bit less for the factory and less still for the major component suppliers so the quality of the mower will be low and the quality of the after sales service will be even poorer.

To put things into perspective
My sister is still using the walk behind that dad bought in 1962 .
That mower cost him 2 months wages .
I have ride ons here that I use regularly from around the same period
The 24" Rover was over $ 1000 back then the average annual salary was $ 4000 .
Now days a garbage walk behind will cost 1 days wages and last for about the same time
A quality walk behind will cost 1 to 2 weeks wages
A junk ride on will cost about 3 weeks wages and good one 3 months wages .

In order to bring the price down low enough to meet the totally unrealistic expectations of the market the quality of everything is as low as it can possibly be made .
When Honda was making ride ons they cost the same as the bottom end 2 seater all plastic cars .
And most of these mowers have outlived the cheap & nasty Suzuki & Diahatsu cars.
Honda abandoned the ride on market and eventually the ride on mower market because people would no pay for quality and they would not put their name on trash.
People have been brainwashed that every thing they want will be cheap and get cheaper every year .
Well that does not happen without consequences and the direct consequence is the products are garbage with short service life requiring regular replacement which is destroying the planet .

I am sympathetic to your plight & I feel your frustrations but ultimately the cause is you & your reluctance to buy quality products .

 

[Rivets]

HOW WARRANTY WORKS??

Customer brings a faulty unit into the appropriate authorized service center.
Customer provides appropriate information proving unit is in a warranty period.
Service Center diagnoses the problem and remedy.
Service Center contacts manufacturer of their findings and manufacture decides whether to pay or not to resolve the problem.
Service Center fixes the problem if manufacturer will cover the cost. Service Center will contact the customer if there is no coverage, explaining the reason why and asks them how they would like to proceed.

Many times I have gotten coverage, even though the manufacturer says that it is not in the warranty coverage when I can verify that the cause was out of the customers control.

What I’m seeing in this thread a Service Center who is dropping the ball in trying to help you resolve the problem. I’m willing to bet that they have not been in contact with Kohler and are handling you a line because they don’t have a clue as to what to do. If they did contact Kohler, ask them for the case number, because you want as much information as you can get before you contact Kohler. Personally I would be looking for a different repair shop.

 

[ILENGINE]

HOW WARRANTY WORKS??

Customer brings a faulty unit into the appropriate authorized service center.
Customer provides appropriate information proving unit is in a warranty period.
Service Center diagnoses the problem and remedy.
Service Center contacts manufacturer of their findings and manufacture decides whether to pay or not to resolve the problem.
Service Center fixes the problem if manufacturer will cover the cost. Service Center will contact the customer if there is no coverage, explaining the reason why and asks them how they would like to proceed.

Many times I have gotten coverage, even though the manufacturer says that it is not in the warranty coverage when I can verify that the cause was out of the customers control.

What I’m seeing in this thread a Service Center who is dropping the ball in trying to help you resolve the problem. I’m willing to bet that they have not been in contact with Kohler and are handling you a line because they don’t have a clue as to what to do. If they did contact Kohler, ask them for the case number, because you want as much information as you can get before you contact Kohler. Personally I would be looking for a different repair shop.

It doesn't help the fact that the dealer distribution system for Kohler doesn't have field reps and internal tech support. All that is now handled by Kohler directly.