When putting the flywheel back on, make sure there is no oil or grease on the matching tapered surfaces. And of course the bolt must be tightened to the proper torque (I don't know the spec). Reliability depends on the tapered parts sticking to each other. The key alone is not strong enough to withstand the torque.
2007 Kohler Courage 17HP Cranks w/spark but no start
- Thread starter ls973800
- Start date
A 45 year experienced local professional welder who operates his own one man shop. He drilled each end, V-grooved the crack, and did a great job as far as I can tell. Charged $80.00 and I paid him $100.00. There was another small crack on the other side of the head from this one I showed which he did also.
OH OH! I put some Never Seize on the tapered shaft when I installed the key I just picked up. It's not exactly the correct key so the flywheel will be coming back off anyhow. I wanted to see if that fixed my problem and it DID! With the new key in the magnet now is just about half way past the coil when at TDC instead of around the 6 oclock position. I checked the valves and was surprised to see they were still at the correct .005 and .007 with no adjustment needed.
Here is what the engine service manual calls for to torque which I will make sure I do when putting the correct key in and verifying which bolt I have.
FlywheelM12 Retaining Screw 88.0 N·m (65 ft. lb.)M10 Retaining Screw 66.5 N·m (49 ft. lb.)
The engine fired up immediately, idles smoothly, and throttles up with no hesitation, popping, surging, etc. I will not be running it again until I get the correct key in there and get the Never Seize cleaned off everything.
Thanks for everyone's help and suggestions!
If you use the string inside the spark plug hole trick don't do what I did & use Wood Stove gasket.
I had to go buy one of those 3 arm grabber tools to grab the torn up pieces stuck inside the engine.
Instead use some Tent camping tiedown string that has a high LBS rating.
This is for you to torque down as to not put pressure against the new key while torquing down the flywheel.
What caused the cracks on the sump? Heat? Blades hit a rock?
I had to go buy one of those 3 arm grabber tools to grab the torn up pieces stuck inside the engine.
Instead use some Tent camping tiedown string that has a high LBS rating.
This is for you to torque down as to not put pressure against the new key while torquing down the flywheel.
What caused the cracks on the sump? Heat? Blades hit a rock?
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It is as I found out a well known problem on the early Kohler Courage engines. Mine is a 2007 which I believe they started using these engines in 2006 or 2007 maybe? The top cover bolts either weren't torqued down enough from the factory or no lock-tite was used to keep them from vibrating loose. I had a bad oil leak from the top cover gasket and when I removed the flywheel to replace the gasket found six of the bolts on the head side finger loose or even sticking up a bit. A few You-Tube videos later and I learned a lot about the problem. One bolt near the coil had been sheared off by the flywheel at some point and that is what caused the crack. The flywheel hitting those bolts!
Yeah I read about this problem when I was researching my twin cylinder courage. Sounded like the problem you have was extremely common on those engines. My twin cylinder courage sv720 was only known for valves going out of adjustment and starters failing. Both of which I had to do on mine for hard starting issues. Other than those it's been great at 400 hours so far. Also a 2007.
I actually got this mower when we bought this house about three years ago as a part of the deal. It had always run great and no problems at all until about a month ago. I saw quite a bit of oil on the floor in the shed and started seeing all of the leaks from the cover gasket and the valve cover gasket. Both were common problems I found out along with the cracks in the block due to loose bolts. If this didn't run so well and cut so well (zero turn RZT 42") I may have talked myself into a "new" used or even a new one. Just cutting a small residential lot and I also have only 406 hours on it.
Thanks for that information. I didn't know that but I do know the Courage engines are not always talked about in high fashion. Reminds me of the B&S engine I have on how they suck in the pushrods into the sump. I learned about it on my Craftsman. I removed both spark plugs but one plug was spotless (no combustion). Then I removed valve covers & saw there was no intake pushrod on that side. It's a 2008 model year & I think those were some bad years for small engine building. Definitely all manufacturing defects.
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