First time for this issue on a Courage, see it a lot on Briggs OHV engines. Enjoy! If this video helped you please consider helping the channel by visiting my Amazon Wish List! www.amazon.com...
Excellent video. I found a lot of dirt and grass cuttings stuck down around my air vents area as well. It looked just like the stuff that you found on your machine. I am rebuilding a toro z5000 zero turn mower and this video is helping me become aware of the potential fails could be for me .I think my machine was built in 2007. Thanks Ken. You taught me a lot just with this one video.
My Courage (18 hp I believe) blew up ...bang, fire, oil and all. The dealership told me that they almost all blow up, and that mine went years longer than most. It ran pretty well over the years, but always had a backfire pop when I would shut it off. I bought a mower with a Kawasaki this time. Seems great, but to be safe, I will wait ten years to give a review.
Like any small engine keep oil in it and check every time you use it. Courages had the upper case bolts loosen which caused many failures but low or no oil is the biggest reason for their failures
Both the push rods are aluminum on the Courage. There are several different designs with the heads on those engines. It can make swapping a head a pain, I had an issue finding a spot to mount something on the swapped head I think it was a fuel pump.
Great video Ken .....Lucky to find a used head that didnt suffer from valve guide movement ...I have seen this crap for several years now .....Oh Kohler started advocating discarding the cork gaskets and using locktite brand RTV to seal there valve covers ......But clearly in this video the valve cover wasnt sealed from factory with the RTV fix .
Right on Ken no thinking needed you are exactly correct. Its the OLD MAN at EP saying these Kohler engines are an issue: 1. Notorious for OHV cover oil leaks 2. Did you know that the SV710 starter does not have the top end repair kit (gear, spring, cover, clip etc.) available and you need to purchase a complete starter? Being a 1 to 2 day service shop our customer says get me a new starter can not wait for something from EBay so we ordered one and gave him a great deal off list price. Tried finding somebody that had a blown starter so we could grab the parts we needed but no luck. If you have a source let me know 10 teeth gear think OEM is 9 teeth but both work.
my untouched sv600 has aluminum pushrods on both intake and exhaust and it had that heatshield. i believe you are incorrect that some models did have aluminum pushrods on both intake and exhaust. the displaced exhaust valve guide seems to be a very common problem when the engines run a little warm.
Having an issue with our courage. Mower will start and run fine for a while after it gets hot it shuts itself down and loses all ignition. Seems to me like electrical as the mower will not even send power to the ignition immediately after. If you wait 5 minutes the mower cranks and starts right back up but will do the same thing again. Changed the fuel filter, lines, checked gas cap, new ignition solenoid etc. Finally took it to gravely and they say it needs a motor. Their explanation is that there are bolts that cannot be tightened in the engine that are rattling from vibration and the motor shuts itself off as a safety. If you can help walk me through this I'd really appreciate it. About ready to give up on this thing. Thanks.
@@KensSmallEngineRepair yes it was replaced recently. Spoke to kohler tech support and they too are stumped but agree it's most likely not the motor but something electrical
As you probably know some or all of the Briggs engines have the heat shield that wraps around the bottom. Just about everyone I've seen is clogged with debris. Good video Ken.
Great informative video Ken. Forgive my ignorance, but why did you have to change the whole head? Could you not just replace the valve guide and rocker arm?
Guides for these are not available separately, only in a bare head for over &200! Quickest and most economical repair was a used head assembly. Even if a guide was available I wouldn’t trust the overheated head, even with a new guide. Thanks for watching
I have a kohler courage SV620-3215 . It’s in a craftsman lawn tractor . It started doing that popping sound you was talking about . Where can I get a head or parts
I wonder if the heat from the exhaust made the aluminum push rod expanded. Even if it expanded a little bit maybe it caused the valve to be too tight and cracked the rocker arm.
Usually there’s a safety factor in there of at least 50 or 50 thou over travel. If I get another one I’ll check it out with an indicator. Thanks for watching
So was the original head bad? Or just just bent pushrod and broken rocker arm? I didn't hear why you had to change head and all . Great video though, thanks!
I have Kohler SV600-3225 I can not get it to start. I have replaced the battery, carburetor, and fuel lines but it will crank with starter fluid but not run it just dies right away meaning its not getting fuel but how?
I have the Kohler Courage 20 on a Cub Cadet LT1045 with 500 hours. It seems to run fine when it starts, and that's the problem. Hard to start. Battery, solenoid, starter and wiring check out good (even jumping direct from battery + to starter terminal). The starter pinion will pop up and engage the flywheel, but sometimes it seems that there isn't enough torque to crank the engine and sometimes the starter just whines. Sometimes I do get lucky and it starts. What is the most likely problem and fix. And, is it possible to install a recoil starter on this engine. If so, how? Thanks for any help, from anyone.
I cannot seem to f ind the spacer between the carberator and the block. I can only find one that is molded together with a heat shield. My machine only seems to have the spacer withe the stud that goes through it. I noticed that your machine on the video is like mine without the heat sheild molded together with the spacere. I havent been able to find the spacer that is similare to the one on your video which is like the one I have. Maybe you can shed some light on my problem as to where I might be abel to find a replacement because mine is cracked and needs to be replaced. I was going to buy one that is molded with the heat deflector. But maybe that is not a good idea. I would appreciate your help. Thanks
Wow, those are some nice instructions in the head gasket kit. (And you used a surface plate to get the pushrod within a thou? Won't get that from every small engine shop!)
That’s my Machine Design/mechanical engineering background. I used to work every day in millionths of an inch. Thousandths seem like mikes to me! Thanks for watching
I picked up a troy-bilt (free) with the courage engine that was packed with dirt and grass. I haven't gotten into it yet, it does run and drive however it smokes and leaks oil out of the exhaust. Stuck valve or blow gasket?
Jack’s is ok, only issue is if a part is not in stock you’ll never know when it’s coming. Had some MTD parts for a Snowthrower on backorder for 2 years! Ended up making them myself.
Ken I have a Kohler Courage 25 horse v-twin thats ran fine with regular maintenance for the past 14 years. One the other hand I have had to replace many of the Courage single cylinders in my shop, they just don't hold up. You have to be courageous to actually own one of those!! :)
The parts were 50, gas to get them was 25, I was visiting a friend so my time to and from his place is not charged then two hours total diagnose and put together time. Lets use 40 an hour so the bill would be $155. Cheap!
