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Hello all, I could use some help troubleshooting a problem that just arose on my walk behind. I was mowing this evening and started noticing the mower losing power and wanting to die, shut off the mower to check the oil and noticed not only is the oil low, the valve cover on the right side is now cracked and leaking oil. So I have a few questions, what would cause the cover to crack? or is it just a wear and tear thing and I need to just replace the cover? And would low oil cause the mower to lose power? or do I have a bigger issue going on. Thanks so much! I've included pics of the tag on the mower as well as a pic of the valve cover.

Kohler has had isssues with the composite valve covers cracking in the past. Just replace the cover. As far as the oil and loss of power that could be an issue depending on how LOW the oil was. could of been acting up due to a low oil pressure switch trying to shut the engine down, but in some cases that doesn't happen until the damage has already been done.

I would just change the cover add the oil back to full and see what happens. Worst case situation is all the internal part numbers end up in the bottom of the oil pan.

Thanks for the help, when I finally noticed what was going on and checked the oil, it was still barely registering on the dipstick. I noticed that as long as I wasn’t cutting grass, just driving with the blades running, it would come back up to full power, then try to die once it started cutting again. Anything I should look for when I pull the cover off?

Just check that both push rods are in place and not fallen out for some strange reason.

gibs13 said:

Thanks for the help, when I finally noticed what was going on and checked the oil, it was still barely registering on the dipstick. I noticed that as long as I wasn’t cutting grass, just driving with the blades running, it would come back up to full power, then try to die once it started cutting again. Anything I should look for when I pull the cover off?

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I would fill with oil first, start it and pull 1 spark plug wire at a time to make sure it's firing on both cylinders 1st....if it is, then you need to look further.

Hey guys, first I just want to say thanks for the help, considering I didn’t know what a push rod was until I pulled off the valve cover haha but anyways I pulled off the cover and one of the rods was definitely loose. I tightened it up filled with oil and ran it for a bit, seemed to do just fine. Didn’t see any damage otherwise. Is this something that happens normally?